Crucial Quote
“The Luce does not look like a Ferrari. It looks like the concept for a Honda Hydrogen vehicle from 2002,” wrote Luke Plunkett of Aftermath, a culture blog. “It looks like one of the “this is what the future will look like from the 90s” cars from Demolition Man, only worse. It looks like a child’s remote-controlled car you’d buy for $10 from an Aliexpress-ass market stall. It looks like anything but a Ferrari.”
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Surprising Fact
With no engine to produce the signature roar of an accelerating sports car, Ferrari replicated the sound with what the company calls an “external amplification system.” When drivers hit the gas, despite the electric batteries making no noise, the car will still make a roar that can be projected inside or out onto the street.
Key Background
Ferrari announced it would make an electric car in 2021 and that same year signed a deal with Ive’s design company LoveFrom. Ferrari Chairman John Elkann said he chose Ive after calling the Apple Watch, the design for which Ive is responsible, “probably the most successful example” of a digital reinvention of a traditionally analog product. Talking about the watch in 2018, Ive said it was an “obvious continuation” of the iPhone and made the technology “more personal and more accessible. “Since its founding in 2019, LoveFrom has been hired by Apple, the Steve Jobs Archive, Airbnb, Christie’s auction house, OpenAI and the British royal family. Its deal with Ferrari also has LoveForm working with the brand’s largest shareholder, the Exor holding company. Exor is controlled by Italy’s Agnelli family and is set to work with LoveFrom on projects outside of Ferrari, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company’s portfolio also includes stakes in Stellantis (Chrysler and Fiat’s parent company), fashion house Christian Louboutin and Italian soccer team Juventus F.C.
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Tangent
In 2024, Ferrari opened a $230 million factory in Italy to allow for production of the Luce while other car brands pulled back from the EV market. Mass-production brands like Ford, GM, Honda and Volvo have all retreated from their EV initiatives in one way or another as consumer demand plummets, profit falls and policy makers deprioritize moving away from traditional gas power. Luxury and performance brands have done the same: Lamborghini scrapped its first planned EV, the Lanzador, due to low demand and Porsche’s Flagship K1 SUV, initially planned as a fully electric vehicle, will now launch exclusively with gas and plug-in hybrid options. McLaren has said it’s not interested in going electric with the market—and technology—as it is now.
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Further Reading
ForbesThe Ferrari Luce Isn’t For You, And That’s OkBy Alistair Charlton