Our first look at the entire luxury EV designed by LoveFrom.
If the wild, Jony Ive- and Marc Newson-designed interior of the Ferrari Luce impressed you and you want more, here’s the deal. After committing to building an EV last year, ignoring those earlier statements that it wouldn’t happen, Ferrari finally gave me a look at the finished product. As big a departure as the interior is from current Ferrari cars, the exterior is an even bigger step up, which not everyone will like.
Whether you love it or hate it, you can also tell that Luce’s exterior style is related to LoveFrom, the design house founded by Jony Ive in 2019. Although this is LoveFrom’s first full-car design, it’s actually Newson’s second, following the Ford 021C concept from 1999. and I get the same vibes from both.
A different shape
The Luce is by no means a traditional sports car, more like an SUV in size and shape, with four doors and five seats. It’s not the first four-door Ferrari; the Purosangue SUV holds that title, but it’s the first time a workhorse has been able to seat more than four people.
And it does so logically. The rear seat is quite open, accessed via a pair of so-called rear-hinged suicide doors, which makes for a more elegant, less awkward entry into the rear. For extra style on the red carpet, there’s a button that turns you off.
I found headroom in the second row limited, but other than that, I was satisfied. There’s even a small control pad on the back to play with that has the same nice knobs and dials as found inside the front.
It still doesn’t work
I spent a lot of time fiddling with those controls from the driver’s seat, and I’m sorry to report the software hasn’t worked very well in that time. The small stopwatch on the upper right cheek of the touchscreen did nothing, nor did the driving modes or seat ventilation. Still, everything looked and sounded great, something that can’t be said for many pre-production models like these.
Seeing the inside of a real car, rather than standing loosely on the stands as I experienced before, gave me a very different perspective. Where previously I thought it was too cold and clinical for a Ferrari, surrounded by the scent and presence of warm leather, it actually seemed to fit.
I still don’t think the average Ferrari owner will immediately fall in love with the interior, but I don’t think the average Ferrari owner will fall in love with the exterior, either. This is a model to not only expand Ferrari’s portfolio but also differentiate its customers, too. Or, as Ferrari CMO Enrico Galliera says: “It’s an opportunity to grow our Ferrari community.”
Where it counts
It may not look or feel like a Ferrari, but it should offer the kind of crazy performance typical of the brand. It has 1,035 horsepower, which is the most, but more importantly, from a set of four motors. That means one per wheel, a setup that should deliver impressive dynamics.
By adding more power to the outside wheels, the Luce can be made to turn corners more aggressively. And, by modeling the power individually, the EV can more accurately handle low-grip conditions, or tip a tire into a high-grip position, which will certainly be a problem since 1,035 horsepower is more than enough to sink even the best tires.
This car also has four-wheel steering, so it can turn the rear wheels or turn them to the front for stability or acceleration. The Luce features a version of Ferrari’s active suspension, which relies on an electronic damping system to not only provide different levels of firmness or softness, but to adjust the ride height as well. Get up to highway speed (maximum 193 mph), and you’ll lower yourself by 10mm.
Power and control
All of that is combined with a new, more advanced traction and stability control system, all managed by what Ferrari calls the Vehicle Control Unit, or VCU. The system is designed to sample the road surface and vehicle output at all four corners every 5 milliseconds, adjusting power output and suspension behavior to best suit the conditions.
Power comes from a complete 122-kWh battery mounted on the floor of the vehicle, skateboard style. It charges at a maximum speed of 350 kW, and Ferrari says it will deliver 329 miles on the European WLTP cycle. If that still holds, it’s probably somewhere south of 300 miles on the strict EPA cycle.
That’s all fair enough, and I’m looking forward to seeing how well it comes together when the time comes, but there’s one other internal system that may prove equally important to creating the perfect driving experience.
Sound design
EVs, of course, make a lot less noise. Their silence is one of their strongest qualities when you are on your way to work. But with Ferrari, sound has always been an integral part of the experience. Thankfully, that continues with Luce.
Rather than creating a completely integrated sound, like Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N, the Luce actually has a type of acoustic pickup installed in the rear axle. There, it can sample the vibrations of the rear motors. That signal is then pumped through some kind of amplifier to create a different note that is exciting but completely different. It has a familiar sound that’s not far removed from some of the company’s high-strung V8s of the past, and yet it clearly isn’t trying to pretend to be anything else. It’s its own thing.
Ferrari likens the process to an electric guitar amp, pointing to this as the next evolution beyond analog motoring. Ferrari has come up with many powertrains in the past, big and small, and with engines mounted in front of or behind the driver.
This, however, feels very important, a complete reboot in both the look and feel of the brand and its delivery methods. Will it succeed? Before anyone jumps to conclusions we’ll have to see how it drives. Hopefully that’s an answer we can give soon.
Hopefully we’ll know how much it costs soon. Ferrari has yet to set US pricing, but in its home market of Italy it will carry a starting price of €550,000. That would make it the company’s most expensive model, priced above the $430,000 Purosangue. That’s quite the question, but most of LoveFrom’s previous designs have carried a premium, so why shouldn’t this?
