Supercar Corner: Ferrari Luce

If a Ferrari no longer has the traditional restrictions of an internal combustion supercar… then what SHOULD it be?

People do love a bandwagon, don’t they?

When Ferrari revealed their new car, the Luce in May, the internet reacted almost immediately. “That’s not a Ferrari!” people shouted across social media, with many dismissing the car simply because Ferrari had turned to the designer of the iPhone for help.

Perhaps that says something about the way the world reacts to new ideas. Opinions are often voiced instantly, long before people stop to properly consider what they are actually looking at. Here at Roadster! we prefer reflect, to pause for a moment and think things through first. Hopefully our readers will too.

So, what’s the big deal?

Yes, it is true: Ferrari have turned to Sir Jony Ive and his design agency, LoveFrom, to help shape the design language and user experience of its first ever electric supercar. After leaving Apple, British designer Sir Jony Ive set up LoveFrom with fellow designer Marc Newson. Ferrari became one of its very first clients.

Now let’s explore why that matters.

Sir Jony Ive is a design LEGEND! When he worked at Apple, he helped design products like the iPhone and iPad — devices which completely transformed the way people interacted with technology. Before Apple, computers and mobile phones often felt complicated, cold and technical. Ive’s designs focused on simplicity, beauty and usability. More importantly, they focused on the experience of using the product: how it felt in your hands, how naturally it worked, and the emotional connection people formed with it. Apple’s products became objects people genuinely wanted to use, not simply pieces of technology.

It is perhaps no surprise that Ferrari wanted to achieve something similar with the Luce.

It’s worth noting that Italy has historically given the world some of the greatest automotive designers EVER. Famous names like Pininfarina, Scaglietti, Bertone and Manzoni have long been associated with Maranello’s iconic silhouettes. Ferrari’s cars are widely regarded as works of automotive art.

But those beautiful and powerful designs were always built around one thing - the internal combustion engine. Huge V12 engines, giant radiators, air ducts, gearboxes and cooling systems all shaped the distinctive proportions of traditional Ferrari supercars.

With Ferrari’s first foray into electric, suddenly many of those old rules no longer applied. An electric Ferrari no longer needed to be designed around a massive petrol engine. The Luce became an opportunity to rethink the shape and purpose of a Ferrari completely…

As Apple founder Steve Jobs once said: think different.

One word has always mattered hugely to Jony Ive: tactile. He believes the way we touch and use an object shapes how we feel about it. His designs for Apple transformed the desktop computer into something elegant, the music player into an object of desire, and the mobile phone into an Intuitive experience.

Jony Ive understands the relationship between machines and emotion — and Ferrari has ALWAYS been about emotion.

Naysayers conveniently overlook the fact that Ive is also a self-confessed car nut. As a teenager he was obsessed with automotive design and he originally wanted to design cars himself. However, the more he explored the world of car design, the more he felt much of it focused purely on styling rather than how things actually worked. That ultimately pushed him towards industrial design instead.

His personal garage over the years has included a classic “Frogeye” Austin-Healey Sprite (possibly the happiest-looking car ever made!), a Bentley Brooklands, an Aston Martin DB9 and a first-generation Aston Martin Vanquish… This isn’t exactly someone who sees cars as appliances.

Similar can be said for LoveFrom’s co-founder Marc Newson. Famous for smooth, flowing designs without harsh edges or sharp lines, Newson has designed everything from aircraft interiors to super yachts and concept cars.

He is a huge car enthusiast too, having completed the legendary 1,000-mile Mille Miglia Italian road race 14 times. His personal garage is equally impressive, including a Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix car, a Ferrari 225 S Barchetta and an open-top 1955 Ferrari 857 Sport.

These two designers are not exactly coming to the automotive world fresh.

Indeed, Jony Ive was also involved in Apple’s top-secret “Project Titan” — a now-cancelled multi-billion-pound EV car project. Apple never officially revealed the project, but some of the ideas people imagined for it now feel strangely familiar in the Luce.

Put all of this together and the Ferrari Luce starts to look far less like a betrayal of Ferrari tradition as some have said, and far more like Ferrari attempting to define its place in a future electric landscape.

Suddenly, the Ferrari Luce becomes a whole lot more interesting.

With the designers freed from the traditional constraints of petrol-powered supercars, a completely new set of challenges emerged: aerodynamics, motors, battery placement and chassis design.

If a Ferrari no longer has the same restrictions as a traditional supercar, then what SHOULD it be?

Ive and Newson have answered that question with a car which combines industrial design discipline, genuine automotive passion and a forensic understanding of what makes a Ferrari feel like a Ferrari.

The key to understanding the Luce lies in that word: tactile.

This car, even in EV form, is all about the relationship between driver, machine and road. It is focused almost entirely on the experience.

The Luce therefore becomes more than simply Ferrari’s first EV. It becomes Ferrari’s attempt to define what should a Ferrari feel like when the engine disappears.

Ferrari’s dedicated EV platform uses four electric motors and an advanced torque management system designed to preserve the engagement expected drivers associate with a Ferrari.

Around this engineering package, Ive and Newson have designed a car focused on aerodynamic efficiency and battery range. With the battery mounted low in the chassis, the Luce gains enormous natural stability, reducing the need for giant wings and aggressive air vents. Instead, the designers focused on helping the car cut through the air with lightness and efficiency.

While the traditional long bonnet disappears. The challenge of airflow, however, remains. Look closely and you will notice the front air scoop and bubble-glass design.

And yet somehow, it still feels unmistakably Ferrari. The front windscreen carries hints of the classic Ferrari 308. Meanwhile, the floating rear light clusters echo the circular rear lights of the Daytona, 360 Modena and 458 Italia.

There are some surprising advantages too. By removing the traditional transmission tunnel and rear transaxle, Ferrari suddenly gains something it has never really had before: space.

The designers have taken full advantage of it. Borrowing centre-opening rear doors from the Ferrari Purosangue, the Luce reveals a huge pillarless entryway and proper rear accommodation.

Proper rear accommodation. That’s three actual rear seats — not the tiny “+2” seats most supercars pretend are usable.

While it may not comfortably carry five tall adults, it absolutely can accommodate a family. It is the first genuine five-seat Ferrari in history… and that makes Roadster! Magazine extremely interested in it.

Which brings us to the interior. This is a car designed around tactile experience. For the driver, there are physical buttons, switches and paddle controls everywhere. Reassuringly, the designer of the iPhone has resisted turning everything into a touchscreen. For Jony Ive, good design is about use, not just appearance.

A huge panoramic glass roof fills the cabin with light and space. Rear passengers are treated to a display showing live speed, G-forces, track times and energy usage — giving the kids in the back an experience almost as exciting as the driver’s. Crew not cargo — has become something of a Roadster! Magazine mantra.

And sonically, the Luce performs too. Rather than relying on fake engine noises, Ferrari says the Luce uses an “authentic” sound experience designed around the genuine mechanical character of the drivetrain itself.

Roadster’s view? Instead of immediately dismissing the Luce, enthusiasts should perhaps take a moment to appreciate what Ferrari is actually attempting to achieve here.

The Luce appears to place tactile experience at the centre of Ferrari’s EV future:

What you see.

What you hear.

What you touch.

What you feel.

So, back to the question, what makes a Ferrari emotionally compelling in an electric future?

The Luce’s answer appears to be tactility, theatre, beauty, usability and emotional engagement. It is a bold, and confident and deeply passionate step into an EV future.

We think it looks rather wonderful, and we are willing to bet it drives even better than it looks.

The only remaining question is whether people will truly desire it.

Only time will tell.

But if this is the beginning of Ferrari’s electric future, then that future is looking very… Luce.

What have YOU remembered?

1 Who did Ferrari collaborate with to design the Luce, and what famous technology company did these one of these designers previously work for?

2 Why did Jony Ive decide to study industrial design instead of car design when he was a teenager?

3 Name two classic Ferrari models whose design elements are echoed in the rear light clusters and windscreen of the Luce.

4 How many seats does the Luce have, and why is this a historic milestone for Ferrari?

5 What does the idiom "jumping on a bandwagon" mean in this context?

6 What tone does this rhetorical question establish between the author and the reader?

7 How do the words "restrictions" and "constraints" applies to building a petrol-powered Ferrari compared to an electric one?

8 Define the word "tactile" based on how it is used in the text.

9 Why is tactility so important inside the cabin of a modern electric supercar?

10 "Crew not cargo." Based on the features described in the back of the Luce, explain what this phrase means and how the car's design achieves it.

11 Critics on social media dismissed the Luce as "not a Ferrari." How do the personal car histories of Jony Ive and Marc Newson counter this criticism?

12 Roadster! thinks the Luce is a "bold, confident and deeply passionate step into an EV future." Do you think the piece persuade others of this point of view?