The idea of a luxury brand like Ferrari teaming up with one of the world’s most famous designers, Jony Ive, to build an EV feels like two heavyweights stepping into the same ring. So, naturally, expectations are high. Ferrari is likely trying to push luxury EVs into a completely different space, though how buyers respond to that vision is a very different question.
For some time now, we’ve known Ferrari and Jony Ive were working together on the company’s first fully electric vehicle. Ferrari has experimented with hybrid cars before, but this marks the first time the company has fully committed to an all-electric model, making the Luce one of the most important cars in Ferrari’s modern history.
The EV, called Luce, Italian for “light,” first appeared earlier this year when Ferrari revealed parts of the interior. Recently, though, the company finally showed a more holistic design of the car.
Luce is a Ferrari designed very differently
Image: Sawyer Merrit
The Luce starts at around $640,000 (€550,000 or roughly £440,000), which immediately makes it clear who Ferrari is targeting. This is a car aimed at ultra-wealthy buyers. It’s also Ferrari’s first-ever five-seater and only its second four-door production car.
At nearly 198 inches long, the Luce sits somewhere between a supercar, a luxury grand tourer, and an SUV. The cabin is pushed forward, the rear doors open from the centre, and even the windshield wipers rest vertically against the pillars. Ferrari says aerodynamics shaped nearly every part of the car.
Underneath all of that futuristic styling, Ferrari seems determined to prove this can still feel like a “real Ferrari.”
The Luce uses four electric motors producing a combined 1,035 horsepower. Ferrari claims 0–62 mph in 2.5 seconds and a top speed of 193 mph. But beyond performance, the company spent a surprising amount of time trying to solve something many EV makers still struggle with, which is giving the car an emotional feeling. Making it faster is easy, but engaging the driver’s senses, sound, feedback, and rhythm, is much harder.
“The sound has been one of the biggest challenges with this car,” Ferrari executive Gianmaria Fulgenzi admitted. Instead of artificial engine noise, Ferrari created a system that amplifies actual mechanical sounds coming from the rear motors.
Inside, the Luce avoids turning into a giant screen on wheels. Ferrari kept physical switches on the steering wheel, added OLED displays, and designed the cabin to feel more driver-focused than tech-focused. There’s even a system that mimics gear changes through paddle controls to recreate some of the rhythm drivers associate with petrol-powered Ferraris.
The bigger question surrounding the Luce has less to do with speed and more to do with identity. Ferrari spent decades building its reputation around loud engines, mechanical drama, and emotional driving experiences. Electric cars naturally change that formula.
Ferrari executive chairman John Elkann summed it up like this: “We are expanding what Ferrari can be, not losing what Ferrari is.”
Ferrari is entering the EV market at a difficult time
Online reactions have been sharply divided. One X user wrote, “Ferrari fans will be so upset with this 😅 it looks more like an Apple car than a Ferrari.”
Another commented, “Jony Ive’s self-indulgent love letter to Jony Ive. He basically designed an Apple Car, just with Ferrari stamp and price tag.” Meanwhile, another user argued, “Unpopular opinion: the Luce might end up being one of Ferrari’s best sellers.”
Those reactions alone tell you what Ferrari is trying to do with the Luce. The company didn’t simply build an EV to enter the market. It built a car designed to provoke opinions.
And honestly, Ferrari may have felt it had little choice.
The luxury car industry is still struggling to define what an electric future should look like. Lamborghini recently backed away from launching a fully electric supercar because demand was weak. Porsche has slowed its EV ambitions too. Even companies like Ford and Volkswagen are leaning harder into petrol vehicles again, especially in the US, where EV demand has cooled and government incentives have shifted.
Ferrari's entry into the EV market now feels risky, but the company may believe the bigger risk would have been standing still.
Ogbonda Chivumnovu
