The Ferrari Luce was meant to show how Maranello would enter the EV age. Instead, much of the early conversation has turned to whether it still looks like a Ferrari.
The brand’s first electric car is already drawing heavy design criticism, not just from social media users but also from people who spend their lives looking at car shapes, proportions and brand identity.
Two recent pieces are worth reading in full. CarNewsChina carried a detailed critique from Munich-based automotive designer Alexey Semenov, who has worked with brands including Nio, GWM, Subaru, Fiat Professional and Fisker. Motor1 writer Jeff Perez also argued that the Luce feels too much like a product-design exercise and not enough like a Ferrari.
Semenov’s main issue is proportion. In his view, the Luce looks short, narrow and tall, which gives the car a visually compressed look. He also questioned the wheel treatment, saying the aero wheel design makes the car’s 23-inch front and 24-inch rear wheels appear much smaller than they are. The front end comes off better, he said, but the rear looks heavy and unresolved.
Perez took a different route but arrived at a similar concern. He argues that Ferrari’s decision to work with Jony Ive and LoveFrom may have pushed the Luce too far towards clean industrial design. That logic works for phones and laptops, he wrote, but Ferrari is not a brand built around blending quietly into the background.
That is the thrust of the discussion. The Luce does not have to look like an old Ferrari with batteries stuffed underneath it. But it still has to feel like a Ferrari, especially when it is carrying the burden of being the company’s first EV.
The interior has drawn more generous comments, particularly for its product-like execution and tactile detail. The exterior is where the argument rages.
For a fuller read, see CarNewsChina’s designer-led breakdown and Motor1’s take. Both raise the same uncomfortable question in different ways: has Ferrari made a brave electric Ferrari, or an expensive object that happens to wear a Prancing Horse badge?
