To say that the disclosing of the Ferrari Luce was essentially the most divisive automobile reveal in history can be a lie, since it implies there is a similarly sized crowd in love with the EV. No one among note has stepped into the firing line to defend the brand new Ferrari, and I’m not changing that today. With critiques from all-comers becoming the most recent social media trend, I just need the overwhelming majority of Luce haters to know that we’re not the identical. So many are unaware of, or have forgotten, who Ferrari is definitely selling cars to.
There was all the time going to be a contingent that may hate any EV that rolled out of Maranello, but Ferrari has to experiment to proceed being culturally relevant. The brand cannot survive by pumping out Testarossas, F40s and 458 Italias until the warmth death of the universe. It is a business that relies on wealthy repeat customers. Nevertheless, Ferrari’s designers and engineers took the packaging flexibility offered by an electrical powertrain and went too far.
The Luce is an excessively round facsimile of a Ferrari. There are memes comparing the EV to an Apple mouse, a less-than-subtle jab at Jony Ive. The previous Apple chief design officer and his design firm LoveFrom were brought on board by Ferrari in 2021, with Marc Newson also having an enormous hand in its design. Despite this, the Luce’s exterior carries elements from Ferrari’s other recent models, just like the also-criticized front black strip and linear headlights on F80, 12Cilindri and, 849 Testarossa. Those elements look especially misplaced with EV being the Italian lovechild of a liftback sedan and crossover. Perhaps Ferrari doesn’t know learn how to design anything anymore, including a race-winning F1 automobile.
Nobody is buying any Ferrari for the range or fuel economy
For me, the Luce immediately conjured memories of the Purosangue’s launch. Ferrari’s first SUV was derided for being ugly, which now sounds hilarious looking back. The arguments are different. After the looks, there is a notion that a $640,000 price tag is just too steep for the Luce, based solely on the spec sheet. Ferrari claimed that Luce has a spread of 330 miles on the European WLTP test cycle. While middle of the road for current electric crossovers, range will not be seriously a difficulty for individuals who buy cars from Ferrari. For comparison, the Purosangue has a 359-mile WLTP range with its 6.5-liter V12 engine.
The Luce likely won’t be the one automobile in its owners’ garages. The EV won’t even be their only Ferrari — 80% of Ferrari buyers last yr already owned a minimum of one otjher Ferrari. The corporate’s loyal customers will likely place orders simply because it’s Ferrari’s first EV. Others will buy one within the hopes of getting an invite to order a future flagship hypercar from Maranello. The Luce won’t be remembered as successful, nevertheless it’s still a Ferrari. The 1,035-hp EV is all-wheel drive but heavily biased to the rear to feel like an RWD machine. The inside looks like a retro-future tackle the within an ’80s Ferrari. This debacle will all blow over by the point Ferrari disappoints us again with its next model, despite what Luca di Montezemolo has to say.
This Article First Appeared At www.jalopnik.com
