Ferrari Luce

441 points811 commentsa day ago
rickdeckard

Makes sense from corporate perspective to hire the "Apple Designer" to craft the interior experience, it's fresh input from a very respected UX design-lead of another industry.

But handing over responsibility for the exterior is quite questionable IMO.

To me, the exterior has lost almost all of Ferrari's identity. It's a nice car-design, but if you'd tell me it's a Hyundai, Lexus or BYD I would believe you.

I wonder what political struggle was behind that within Ferrari. I can't imagine this design was received well, and I doubt that Ferrari actually asked for help on exterior design. It's more likely that Jony Ive demanded it...

(Also the fact that they presented the interior much earlier than the exterior could be an indicator for internal disagreements...)

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Mikho

This will be a success. There is no need to sell an amount comparable to the Tesla Model S. It's Ferrari's first entry into the premium 5-seat EV sedan market. There are enough people who would pay any money to have an electric Ferrari. The fact that it's a rather everyday car—and not a supercar—makes it a very attractive option for rich people who need to show off. Design is also pretty good for the task. It doesn't compete with existing premium EV sedans but really stands out. It's unique, and that is its value prop. Should it look like a regular Ferrari but electric, it would compete with Ferrari's combustion engine supercars and would inevitably lose. It also shouldn't compete with the Porsche Taycan—a very nicely designed EV. The general public is not the target audience for this car to offer a generic design. So, Ferrari's unconventional design is the exact right choice.

P.S. It’s kind of like when Porsche entered the SUV market with the Cayenne, which didn’t have a conventional SUV look but still crashed the market.

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epsteingpt

The commentary seems pretty uninformed.

My strong guess is the buyer of the electric Ferrari is not your typical Ferrari buyer.

These same people probably criticized the Porsche Cayenne for 'not being fast enough' or 'lacking features that Toyota SUVs have'

The target buyer is probably more like Dubai housewife with kids.

They have a different aesthetic. They LOVE their iPhone.

Everyone hating on it probably needs to reconsider. There's almost 0 chance that a company like Ferrari did this to not embarrass Jony Ive.

They legitimately expect this thing to sell to its target audience.

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rullopat

I don't get how Ive is getting so much praise as a designer, after designing the worst iPhones ever and a Ferrari that looks like a Toyota Prius on steroids.

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mft_

What is gobsmacking is the price.

I know it’s Ferrari, but one of the interesting things about EVs is that there’s minimal technological differentiation marketed to customers after a certain point. As in: a buyer wouldn’t know or care about a Ferrari battery pack vs. a Tesla or BYD battery pack. Whether you’ve got 300 or 1000 horsepower, the brand of the motor la delivering it is mostly irrelevant.

The suspension may be cleverer (and more expensive) and the tuning (or coding) of the power delivery may be different, but underneath it all this does not have a 5x higher BoM than a Model S Plaid. And without the ‘benefits’ typically sold by Ferrari to justify their price point (e.g. heritage, F1 association, high-revving flat-pane crank engines, F1-derived gearboxes, handling, the typical Ferrari appearance) the price premium seems ever harder to justify.

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PedroBatista

Someone inside Ferrari had the terrible idea of greenlighting this and even more terrible lack of courage to not cancel this mistake because it was the baby turd of Jony Ive and Marc Newson.

Fortunately everyone will laugh and cringe, the usual car "journalists" will bite their tongues because they don't want to lose access, time will pass and it will be forgotten because Ferrari can afford to make these mistakes ( for now.. )

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4rtem

I don't get why Ferrari didn't make a sub brand for EV and other cars that doesn't fit in their 'dream car' philosophy. Enzo did it with Dino, it didn't work then, but could be a smart move today.

Regarding the car itself, it's great. It's obvious that car existed in sketches and concept long time ago (compare it to the other Newson car – Ford 012C), maybe it's an Apple car and just materialized with a few Ferrari signature details now. It's very cool looking and could be a banger with a $50-70K price tag produced by a Lucid or some other US car neo-brand.

I find it quiet disrespectful to ignore Italian craftsmen and Flavio Manzoni (head of design) particularly by Ferrari management as they assumed that they have to hire "tech" guys to make tech product as local engineers and designers couldn't solve so complicated task. Manzoni team would introduce something like 12 Cilindri in sedan form and it would worth every pence of whatever price tag they would place for it.

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dackdel

When in school and we learn bits of history, (mostly day dreaming but sometimes information crept in) things like Shah Jahan cutting off all the hands of the sculptors of the taj mahal. I really wish Steve was alive and took inspiration, so that Jony wouldn't create trash like this.

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qsi

The Tesla Model S Plaid has similar horsepower (1020 vs 1035), more torque (1050 lb ft vs 730), faster 0-60 (2.1 vs 2.4s), higher top speed (200 vs 193 mph), more range (358 vs 280 mi).

For roughly 17% of the price.

And it looks the same.

What an abomination!

(You can probably find similar Chinese EVs that also outperform similarly.)

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aprentic

It seems that EVs and ICEs are sufficiently different that traditional car companies don't really enjoy nearly the encumbrancy advantage they once had.

The top EV manufacturer started as a battery company. The second place EV company started as an EV company.

Various ICE manufacturers have spent decades innovating and refining ICEs and building logistics chains optimized for ICEs.

The big problem that the high end ICE manufacturers have is that the things that made them special in the ICE market don't apply as well in the EV market.

You can potentially justify 6 figure price tags if you're in the luxury market. Hire famous designers, pay for premium materials, and leverage your brand name. If you want to sell cars for 6 figures based on performance, they actually need to perform significantly better. There are a bunch of much cheaper EVs that have better performance.

Just jacking up the price and relying on conspicuous consumption is how you get the Fyre Festival.

ChoGGi

If you're buying a Ferrari, why wouldn't you want it to look like a Ferrari? Not some Chinese knockoff Tesla?

jumploops

Original title called out the connection to Jony Ive, in case you’re curious why this is on HN.

Previously it had been known that Jony Ive was working on the interior of this car, but it seems his firm is responsible for the exterior as well[0].

> LoveFrom was given the creative freedom needed to define the design direction of the project from the outset, translating this design language into an authentic Ferrari experience.

[0]https://www.ferrari.com/en-US/corporate/articles/ferrari-luc...

barrrrald

The iPhone 5C of Ferraris – and I am sure it'll have the same fate.

It's doubly a shame because Jony actually owns one of the all-time most beautiful classic Ferraris – the 250 Europa. I was hoping they'd do a modern re-imagination and revival.

https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/auto/250-europa

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hedora

I like that it has lots of mechanical switches. Maybe that'll trickle down to regular cars. The stereo specs are impressive.

The article mentions low center of gravity and 0-60 time. At 2.5 sec, I'm not sure this is much of a differentiator. Teslas can match it, but even a full-sized work truck is already hitting 3.5s. BMW sedans sit at 3.1s. Sure, the Ferrari is a bit faster, but I'm not convinced it's a qualitative difference.

I wonder how it corners. There's no mention of weight in the article. That's been the main differentiator I've noticed between EVs that feel sporty and ones that handle like a pickup truck.

I also wonder how many people will immediately turn off the "authentic sound". I get that the octegenarian crowd is still running the global economy, and likes their lumbering shitbox tuned-exhaust gas guzzlers, but I don't see many gen-x'ers (hitting 50!) or younger that prefer gratuitous road noise.

anonu

Lots of comments saying it looks ugly. I don't agree. But the $650,000 price tag is not pretty - that I can agree on. I know people will pay that.

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arlattimore

That is horrific, I cannot believe Ferrari put their name on it yet alone released it.

andsoitis

For comparison, the recent Ferrari Roma: https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/auto/ferrari-roma

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lagrange77

The instrument cluser looks awesome, especially the G force instrument!

https://ferrari-cdn.thron.com/delivery/public/image/ferrari/...

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rickdeckard

The exterior looks like from a video game which has no license to use actual cars.

A "McLovin Testostero"...

andreygrehov

The guy (Jony Ive) could've just used ChatGPT. Here is the $640k Ferrari everybody expects - https://ibb.co/GfgGjQQD

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grvdrm

I ... it's growing on me! Odd. Very odd feeling.

I like the front. I like the interior. Controls and touches look great on video.

But rear is awful. So far anyways. Reminds me of this Chevy Impala model family:

https://www.rvinyl.com/products/chevrolet-impala-2000-2005-t...

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wolframhempel

I've seen a lot of explanations, including one by Marques Brownlee, stating that electric cars need large batteries in the floor, meaning they necessarily have to be taller and more SUV-like—and that, hence, a low, two-seater electric sports car is very hard to pull off with a decent range. But then, the Rimac Nevera is low and fast with 490 km of range—and that was released five years ago. I'm not sure why Ferrari couldn't have built something like that.

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Bayart

Incredibly boring on Ferrari's part, the design language is both trite and outdated. The type of car itself isn't something people go to Ferrari for. I'm sure it's a decent car, but not a decent Ferrari. They're headed for a few bad years.

WalterBright

Should have had Pininfarina do the body. The best looking Ferraris are all Pininfarina.

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Kuyawa

Horrible. I don't care if it was designed by Armani in his deathbed or Jony Ive himself. It's just horrible. The flat sides, not even reminiscence of the testarossa glorious days. Worse than the tesla truck and that's in the lowest levels of design.

Be careful not to take the Jaguar road for there is no coming back.

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nevi-me

What's missing is changing the stallion to a kiddified pony, to match the rest of the design.

This looks like a child's toy.

kayo_20211030

"Sir" Jony Ive? Sure fine, recognized by the crown and all that. It looks like a Kia. Don't get me wrong, I like Kia's. If Ive was a lollipop he'd lick himself. When you get to a point that you can no longer do seminal & groundbreaking work, and you continue to cling to what you used to be, just stop; even if only in respect to the good stuff you've done already.

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bix6

Specs are insane but why does it look like a budget sedan with a cool paint job?

This sounds kind of fun. It’s curious they weren’t allowed to drive though..

> But I can say that the Torque Shift Engagement system — which gives the driver five power levels on the right paddle and five engine-braking levels on the left — is one of the most intriguing ideas I’ve seen in an electric car. It doesn’t simulate gear changes. It creates an entirely new torque language controlled by the driver, introducing an active decision-making element to trajectory management that sounds like it could restore the kind of driver engagement that many enthusiasts fear EVs have lost.

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sedatk

Compare that to Hyundai N Vision 74.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai_N_Vision_74

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matthewowen

if you got rid of the badges and showed me the exterior shot i'd say "oh, is that one of those cheap chinese EVs everyone is talking about?"

oytis

> Sound waves are captured from electro-mechanical vibration in the axles that are equalised, amplified and delivered alongside visual feedback to inform the driver

In other words, they made an EV do wroom-wroom?

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dzonga

Ferrari history - powerful engines, shitty interiors.

so how does this reflect the Ferrari history. maybe this should've been a Maserati project.

unless they were going to put massive electric motors or some other performance thing that's electric & not seen in other cars.

ericcumbee

I'm not an expert on automotive or any type of design for that matter. But I have an appreciation for cars and especially racing cars. I can look at Ferraris of every era and even though the design language has changed. I can tell you that is a Ferrari. There is a common thread that runs through all of those cars that makes them a Ferrari. I just don't see that with the Luce. It looks like they threw a couple "Ferrari" styling cues on it, but that is it.

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vulk

Criticism is very valid, I don't want to mention the exterior however there are some very nice UX design touches which industry had to adopt 10 years ago?

I assume some of it will be adopted from the industry in the upcoming years. Now that regulators are pushing back on touch displays, the integration of tactile buttons with software will be the move forward you still need to have a physical mechanical button it is better in terms of muscle memory and cognitive load. I never understood the central display abominations that car manufactures keep pushing however the rotation and adjustment of the position make it a little more bearable, Audi[0] had figured this out like 20 years ago with the retracting screen in the dashboard, give the users the ability to hide the display it makes the whole interior cleaner and the driver can focus on the driving. I still don't understand the push with the piano black plastics it looks awful this material needs to go from the car interiors once and for all.

I think Ivy did its job great here despite some design decisions the vision and the direction is the goal here with this car the blending of software with mechanical parts.

It is somehow funny tho that it took a designer like Ivy to work on a car project to push for things like that, like who are the people working in the design departments at those companies, the cars that are releasing in the last 5-10 years in terms of interior design are to say at least uninspiring for their price tag.

[0] - pop up screen in interror of #Audi https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TUgqDlzuiFQ

dmos62

Tangential, but I'm surprised that people here talk about looks as if it's something objective. I don't like how this car looks, but obviously there are other people with other tastes. I might be reading too much into people screaming "ugly" I guess.

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davewritescode

I don’t understand why anyone is jumping to conclusions about anything before anyone has driven it.

A Ferrari is about driving, and while it wouldn’t surprise me that the driving experience is generally the same as most EVs I’m unwilling to dismiss this based on looks alone.

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DeusExMachina

Most of the reactions I am seeing on various social media are negative.

Granted, that is not the market that would buy a Ferrari, but one of the point of buying luxury cars is the status they grant. There is not much status in a car mocked by the public.

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karakoram

I don't like it at all. The curves, the silhouette, does not work at all, it does not "speak" to me as a Ferrari.

Again, a heritage brand ruined by an obnoxious, pesky iPad like display that has no business being in a Ferrari.

The front profile is hideous too.

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Trickery5837

Imagine having Flavio Manzoni as Chief Design Officer but deciding that for the most revolutionary car you'll ever need to make you want someone that never designed a car

dvt

Somehow managed to make a Ferrari look as cheap as a Tesla (inside and out).

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manoDev

The design language is a departure from usual Ferrari design, but I actually enjoyed the "smooth pebble" aerodynamic design of the exterior. It will certainly stand out in the sea of exaggerated angular shaped designs in the road. Maybe it would have been better received if it retained some elements of Ferrari design, like the headlights – it would be more recognizable.

I find the interior quite adequate for an EV, not too minimal neither gaudy. It does look like an interior designed by the iPhone designer, though. It would be a great interior in any car.

It seems this will be one of those divisive designs, because it totally broke with the Ferrari tradition.

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brunoborges

Give me the modern interior design with a vintage exterior design.

skhameneh

What is the target demographic? The specs seem... nice. Nothing particularly special compared to the likes of Lucid, etc.

The design though, it seems very... uninspired? It has hints of throwback in the design, but imo it does not have the look of luxury or sports car.

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jraines

I’m a big fan of the interior & Ive design (and am not always a fan if his). The exterior is pretty cool from the front and back … but from the side and at angles it just doesn’t register as Ferrari at ALL. Seems to scream for a longer wheelbase but that’s not the whole issue. It just looks very mid-market from those angles.

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hosteur

Looks more like a computer mouse than a sports car.

1970-01-01

EVs will dominate the world in 10 years. Haters will hate. These two statements are not mutually exclusive. There is juicy irony in the fact that this is the country where modern EVs were invented and it is the one that hates the transition the most. There is nothing more American than driving an EV: https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/17/evs-dominate-the-most-amer...

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thm

It looks like someone designed the app first, then Jony Ive panic-wrapped a car around it.

frogperson

Looks luke a cheap electric knockoff in some low budget racing game. It does not look like a ferrari at all.

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babelfish

Looks like the BMW i3 met a Magic Mouse

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gherkinnn

How very unexciting. Works for laptops, Ive should stick to that.

Compare that to the next car on the list, now that's thrilling.

https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/auto/849-testarossa

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adamqureshi

Nobody buying a Ferrari needs an EV. A Ferrari is a flex, like a $100k Rolex — you’re not buying it to tell time, you’re buying it to signal you got loot. That’s what makes the Luce feel kinda confused.

NoPicklez

I don't understand the idea of the doors opening that way.

How do two people get in at the same time? Both go for the door handle right next to each other then let the other get in first because there's not enough room for two to get in at the same time on one side.

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realo

So many details, so many cool videos, so many interesting descriptions ...

Oh. No price?

sharaththegeek

Here to comment that Steve Jobs would be rolling in his grave right now

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andreygrehov

Holy smokes this looks bad, nothing like Ferrari. The car was designed by Jony Ive, but from what I can see, he has zero experience designing cars. The asking price is $640k, which is absolutely hilarious. They should've published a render on April Fool's day instead.

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mariopt

The car front looks ugly to me but, I do remember getting used to car designs that I previously found ugly.

It looks weird/ugly because electric cars no longer need to be longer and have enough space for massive sport engines. Maybe we'll get used to it over time, still I would prefer the front of a Ferrari 458

The interiors look really nice, I'm a fan of the dashboard elements, blending touch with actual physical buttons.

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vonneumannstan

Seems obvious that this was his failed Apple Car design. Completely out of touch for Ferrari. It's going to be a major flop...

kenanfyi

I knew it was going to be ugly, but did not expect an abomination. You surprised me indeed Ferrari.

KeplerBoy

This style might have worked as an apple car. It sure as hell doesn't work as a Ferrari.

cjrp

Does Ferrari have the same "relationship requirements" as other high-end manufacturers? I.e. to get the latest and greatest ICE sports case, you'll need to buy one of these first.

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mossrelish

Change the badge and it could have just as easily been the Apple car!

tbojanin

This cars got a face that only a mother (Jony Ive) could love. Honestly it makes a prius look visually pleasing.

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maerF0x0

I'd rather a 2022 Acura NSX, but the word "Ferrari" will get a man interest from non-trivial amount of women, so there's the conspicuous consumption part of it.

foobarian

> ~ $650k USD

So is this what it takes to get nice physical buttons these days?!?

shadowbip

Here's the English translation of your sentence:

"Certain brands, certain styles cannot switch to electric; the Green Deal doesn't apply to everything. Some machines need pistons!"

brian-armstrong

Yikes. That's a car that looks like it gets its lunch money taken by the other cars.

freetime2

I feel like most Ferrari drivers are buying them as collector's items to be preserved rather than something to be driven.

EVs, by contrast, feel more like appliances meant to be used and enjoyed. And there will always be a more advanced model coming out just around the corner.

They've kind of hinted at the fact that this is meant to be more of an appliance than other models, with a more accesible price:

> “We were excited about a five-seater car that was flexible, versatile and inherently luxurious,” he tells TopGear.com during an exclusive walk-round. “Of course, the price point means it’s exclusive but it’s more accessible and relevant. That’s a new paradigm, and also the biggest challenge.” He gestures to the roof-line. “Imagine how much easier our job would have been if we’d been able to pull this point down two inches.”

Although I suspect the price will still be very much out of my range, there may well be some wealthy buyers out there who would love to have a Ferrari as a family sedan. Look at the success of the Cayenne - something that a lot of people snubbed their nose at initially. Honestly if I had the means I would be much more interested in this than any of their other cars. I'm definitely in the cars-are-meant-to-be-driven camp.

Edit: oh the estimated price is $640k. Yeah I don't think it will sell well at that price - though I also don't pretend to understand the market for super cars or the motivations of super car buyers.

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clearstack

Ferrari's operating margin is ~28%. that number only works because they sell fewer cars than they could. the whole moat is manufactured scarcity. EV dilutes that if it widens access.

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hnlmorg

I suspect this car is more aimed at people who want a Tesla with a sports car badge rather than people who want a sports car. And I think that’s why most on here don’t like it.

For the vast majority of people, a Ferrari is something aspirational. But for those who can afford one but would rather have “normal” car, this might appeal. It has the form of something practical while still signalling wealth.

Before now, that generally meant those equally-ugly but for different reasons 4-wheel drive and SUVs.

If you view this as (for example) something for rich mums to take their kids to school in, then it makes a lot more sense.

At least that’s the demographic I think they’re quietly going after.

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chadcmulligan

I'm not a car guy so please forgive me if this is a dumb question but with electrics do high performance cars even matter any more? Like Tesla had its ludicrous mode years ago, I suppose you'd need decent suspension but if they can churn out that then what do places like Ferrari offer now? apart from the brand I suppose.

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petterroea

That car, just like the SUV, is more for people who want to brag they own a Ferrari than for people who want a good car. It isn't as ugly as the Nissan leaf (still my favorite practical car!), but it isn't winning any beauty contests any time soon.

glenngillen

Yikes. If you showed me this car and asked me to guess the brand I'd probably say Renault. Which isn't meant to be shade on Renault, and I don't exactly hate the design and might even take a look at it if I was in the market given the expectations I have around the price point of a new Renault.

This is absolutely not a car that screams "Ferrari" though.

Topology1

What made Ferrari think it was a good idea to have the guy who killed the headphone jack and shipped the butterfly keyboard design their first EV?

maxglute

Validates my feeling that Ive is basically a hack who could only copy, I mean sincerely flatter Rams.

ge96

Eew I like the classics F40s but also the Stradale is dope too wtf is this thing

My eew comment is the design of the body

tristanb

What did you expect? Braun didn't design any cars.

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hnthrow0287345

That's heinous. Their firm should stay away from sports car brands.

spicymaki

This is just my subjective opinion, but it looks like the car has a Pixar aesthetic. I am not in to it, but I am glad Ferrari is willing to take some design risks. I am not sure who this is for.

andsoitis

Shares of Ferrari fell by 6% in early trading on Tuesday after the launch of the Luce.

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sorenjan

The Polestar 6 is a much better looking electric sportscar IMO, although that's mostly a concept car at the moment.

KeplerBoy

Interesting fact from the page: "The lowest drag coefficient in Ferrari history, achieved through aero-styling convergence, active air shutters, and ride-height logic that lowers the front by 10 mm even while cruising"

I guess not having large air intakes and generally a slightly larger frontal area helps with that (the coefficient of drag is always multiplied by the area, so this might not be the most aero Ferrari ever, that's a different claim).

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mdavid626

Ugly as hell, it doesn’t look like a Ferrari.

drfloyd51

The gas engine Farraris are a pinnacle of design for an engine, gas tank, drive train, and human occupant.

It would have been trivial for Ferrari to just make their classic style but now, electric! And it would have been full of compromise.

Ferrari has made, in their opinion, the best design for the constraints and challenges of an Electric Vehicle. 4 motors, battery, human.

Good for them for putting real effort into it. And not just making a cash grab.

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ricardobayes

The interior is fine overall, but why did they not hire Chris Bangle for the exterior? He's known for controversial designs that end up being category-founding car designs. He lives in Italy too now. Or why not reach out to Frank Stephenson, who designed the iconic F430 which pretty much paved the ground for Ferraris modern history.

mimentum

Looks like a significant departure from classic Ferrari styling and Italian thought to some American half arsed futurist dream version of a Mini.

seydor

I 'm sorry, i am already laughing imaging 4 people trying to coordinate getting out of these doors in a averagely tight parking spot. They need an app for that.

frankhhhhhhhhh

This is a car a Ferrari enthusiast buys his daughter.

InsideOutSanta

Cleo Abram has a long video interviewing the designers about their thinking behind the design decisions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-o0r2zSgCE

plorg

It looks like a VW bug wearing Milhouse's dad's racecar bed as a skin suit.

skyberrys

At first I thought it was a Ferrari custom built for Jony Ive made just to his specifications. But once I saw the first image I could easily understand it was designed by him. It's a talent to be an industrial designer with such a clean recognizable style that it's like a signature, easily recognizable as to who it belongs to.

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fedreg

Reminds me of those shoe covers workers put on to avoid tracking dirt into a customer's home...

t1234s

I try to imagine the Ferrari badges as apple logos and the car all of a sudden makes sense.

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iknownthing

Well that doesn't look like a Ferrari

carlos-menezes

That's the least Ferrari looking Ferrari I have ever seen.

pryelluw

Looks like a melted down Pontiac Aztec. Though, I don’t see Walter White forking over money for it.

liamdoyle

The only way this succeeds is because Ferrari buyers will be forced to buy this so they can also buy/be on the list for their ICE powered halo models. The exterior has lost all brand recognition and for a brand that is so focused on design I can't see this being anything more than a massive slip up

Kon5ole

Seems to me Porsche or Audi would have been better choices for Ive’s designs.

Then again the uproar might be the point of the experiment.

Edit: As an electric Ferrari family car it’s not too bad imo. Making it look like a mid-engine v12 would be silly, since it’s not that.

elAhmo

The back looks nice, but from the profile and front/top this is really unlike a Ferrari.

jdw64

Personally, I think a My Little Pony silhouette would look great instead of the Ferrari logo. It has a completely different vibe compared to the wild horse image

kulor

Kudos to Ferrari trying to stay modern with a collab with one of the best industrial designers of the moment. But this feels antithetical to Ferrari, it's bland and utilitarian where they should be channeling flair and evocative designs.

cromka

Cars like this is why restomods are getting big

PowerElectronix

Yeah, I ain't buying this

skeptrune

I really appreciate how "Jony Ive" this looks. Feels like they absolutely nailed the style.

I personally feel like it looks like a disposable tech hardware product, but to each their own. I'm sure a lot of people will love it.

drumhead

It's looks less interesting than the cars Xiaomi and BYD have been making. Let's hope that the performance is something special. Though why they chose Mr thin and light instead of someone like Pininfarina I don't know.

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etempleton

This is a very strange car for Ferrari to make. What people expected is a Rimac and instead they get a fancy electric Prius.

Maybe it is really a functional prototype, but Ferrari as a company does strange things. They live off of their name brand, but they make buying and owning their cars a pain and frankly I don’t think they are very high quality compared to what other car makers in their price point are doing.

sailfast

This looks really good in that Blue color when the light is just right.

Otherwise, I think this car has a lot of excellent new tech in a package that just won't get the motor(s) firing for most people - especially at a 650K price point.

It's a shame they couldn't figure out a way to make the shape look a bit more sporting. Who cares about practicality when you're driving a ferrari?

NoPicklez

Rear looks great, front looks horrible.

Steering wheel looks like its trying to be old school, but really shouldn't be.

purpleidea

I want a fully open source car. That's luxury!

coolgoose

The front looks like a vacuum cleaner

zuzululu

I rather like the interior gauges and switches but the exterior of this car is....I have questions

grim_io

The front part seems to be purposefully designed to decapitate children on impact.

aklemm

Everything but that stubby, sawed-off, blunted rearend looks pretty good

tibbydudeza

Reminds me Chris Bangle and his flame surfacing at BMW.

Cider9986

>THE FERRARI LUCE APP A new way to connect your car

So they have an app specifically for this car and not a general app for all Ferraris? What are the chances it is a good, usable app? What are the chances it's loaded with trackers?

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reaperhulk

Discussed 3 months ago as well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46949642

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spprashant

Have we perhaps hyped Jony Ive a little too much?

yur3i__

Feel like this is an answer to the Lamborghini Urus which, at the time, I remember the internet not being fond of either. But in the real world, they are now a massive status symbol

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spacebacon

I get the feeling this car was designed inside and out with a css stylesheet.

9front

Jony Ive design philosophy of "thin and with round corners" can be seen in the Ferrari Luce. The car looks like an iPhone.

avereveard

Fiat Multipla level design blunder

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iainctduncan

Nice to see that, after all these years, "car commercial techno" is still a thing.

Man, I miss the 90's. Best decade for electronic music ever.

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HeartStrings

Wow, its cringe. And I get an iPad with my ferrari! Amazing!

gregoire

The companion app, showcased at the middle of the page, looks surprisingly under-designed, despite LoveFrom having some of the best UI designers in the world.

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microsoftedging

Why is every EV these days an amorphous blob? Even Ferraris are being homogenised. Can't believe Ive designed this. Interior is okay, but not special; the exterior though... It looks like any other of the thousands of blob EVs in the market. It's actually so bad

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chalmovsky

I strongly smell sour grapes bias in this comment section.

Ekaros

That is one horrific looking thing.

And the back kinda reminds some of the past. But it also looks like smaller car inside bigger car... What is going on?

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unethical_ban

I like it. I'm not a Ferrari expert, and it looks like it could be from any number of manufacturers, which is part of why it's getting criticism here. But the interior looks nice, simple, button-oriented, and I like the pivoting center console.

It would be a great car at about 20% of the price.

sgt

Cool, it has suicide doors like the BMW i3 (a legendary concept car that escaped into the wild, and caused BMW to lose a lot of money)

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Danox

Looks cheap run-of-the-mill certainly nothing you would spend $300,000 for…

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MrGilbert

I read the comments before visiting the website. After the page loaded I was like: "Well, the silhouette from above and the color looks neat!"

I scrolled further and saw the front of the car, and now I get what the comments meant. Holy moly. That‘s worse than the Jaguar rebrand on my scale.

topspin

You could stick a Door Dash car topper on the roof and few people would pick up on the joke. So the entire point of Ferrari is lost in this exterior design. Where are the wings and strakes and diffusers? It has a few holes, but sans that it's a slightly more swoopy two-tone Model 3.

emehex

This is like the anti-Cybertruck. But in a funny horseshoe kinda way the exact same as the Cybertruck?

mellosouls

Ferrari is synonymous with exclusivity in beauty, performance and history.

Well, just history now.

manyatoms

Why couldn't they have made it look like a normal Ferrari.

It's just a powertrain change why mess up all the styling.

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ncr100

IDK about you, I keep imagining the horn when I see the outside: like Beaker from Dr Honeydew's laboratory in The Muppets,

"Hmeep!"

Ferrari horns are in my opinion legendary wonderful toots. And I'm troubled that this car offers very little "Ferrari" while sitting atop its brand.

lxe

Did they even ask their customer base before approving the design? I don't care about Ferrari, but people who do care about Ferrari will not like this.

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Izikiel43

Design wise, compared to previous Ferrari designs, a kick in the nuts is nicer than this.

avalys

This would have a chance as a $250k entry-level Ferrari. Not much of a chance, but a chance. At $600k? Crazy.

You could buy a V12 Ferrari at that price, if a Ferrari is what you want. Or a Rolls Royce Spectre if you want something quiet and luxurious.

binkHN

> The lights gently recede when switched off, perserving the purity of the form

Wow. It's a Ferrari and the top things about the car is how the lights shut off. Way to go Ferrari.

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ericyd

Best thing about the video was the song

hnburnsy

It is 2026 cars don't need start buttons, physical keys, or giant round air vents

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butlike

Ferrari Luce-r (like Loser)

throwaway85825

Ugly as sin.

cpt_sobel

You're not getting it out of my head that they just used what would be the Apple Car design.

quaddoggy

The interior isn't offensive, but don't the dashboard air vents appear to kind of bolted on? Like, maybe they are super functional? But they look like an afterthought aesthetically.

seanhunter

Jony Ive designed the imac. He also designed the stupid bullshit round hockey puck mouse that came with the imac. He also designed the stupid bullshit smooth "magic mouse" that you have to flip over to charge.

This is more like his mouse designs than his imac design.

netfortius

A car you'll never be able to get four people in, in the same time, using all four doors. Oh, well, if it's Ferrari...

chrisss395

This will go down as one of the largest strategic missteps in history. I understand the intent on the surface, but this completely misses the boat and abandons the racing heritage that makes Ferrari special. IMO, design was never really an issue with Ferrari. The problem is Ferrari has begun chasing popular trends, e.g., 4-door, electric.

parsimo2010

I looked at it and am unimpressed. I’ll take any Pininfarina designed Ferrari over this plain looking thing. Jony Ive did an okay job on the interior but the outside is just plain. The outside looks closer to an Amazon delivery van than a super car.

Sure it’s fast, but a Corvette ZR1X is faster. I’d rather take a ZR1X to a custom shop and have them redo the atrocious Corvette interior.

Edit: I’ll acknowledge that I’m not the kind of person to buy a Ferrari even if I could afford it, so maybe Ferrari doesn’t care about my opinion, but I feel like Jony Ive pulled an “emperor’s new clothes” on the Ferrari execs.

Zigurd

If the battery is under the passenger compartment, you're pretty much stuck with a sedan-derived coupe look. The performance better be super ultra special, otherwise Ferrari had no need to make a car that looks like that.

flokie

love the interior, not sure how i feel about that front end however. "The lowest drag coefficient in Ferrari history" is not what i would have guessed just seeing the picture alone, so props to them on making this possible!

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qsi

The first Ferrari I don't want to drive. Or even see. Can I have the Men in Black memory erasure thingy please? I want to unknow this.

sidharthshrvstv

I can see what they were trying to evoke from the design but damn, it seems to have missed the mark by a lot

danielovichdk

Don't worry. This is being laughed at in the factories in maranello.

But Ferrari has an obligation to the populistic world too, trying to wheel in customers for an EV end ending up selling them a real car with a V8-12 engine.

Looks terrible. But they know it.

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dcl

This is the car you will need to buy to get on the list to buy the Ferrari you kind of want - but not the Ferrari you really, really want, that will cost you a lot more.

tail_exchange

Maybe I just have a bad taste for cars, but this looks awful. Uninspiring. Looks like a Tesla with a Ferrari logo.

Edit: I do love the analog buttons in the interior though. I despise those big screens with all the controls, and no tactile feedback.

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LetMeLogin

Cleo Abrams dropped an interview with the creators:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-o0r2zSgCE

Jyaif

A sign that you are paying for the logo is that it's present 8 times freaking times on the body.

And just to be sure you get it, "Ferrari" is also spelled out.

throw03172019

Kia and a Ferrari had a baby… yikes.

dtagames

It's lovely and I bet they sell every one they build.

basseed

I wonder if some of the design is related to the car that Apple was designing, if Apple released an EV this is pretty much what I would have expected it to look like

tintor

Is this an April 1st joke?

pipeline_peak

Ferrari’s are supposed to look sexy.

This looks like if an iPod Mini had sex with a Norelco Shaver.

sgt

"The lights gently recede when switched off, perserving the purity of the form."

This is totally impossible to read without hearing it in Ive's soothing voice.

ahmadyan

I feel bad for Jony Ive, no amount of lipstick on a pig is going to save that horrendous car.

amanzi

Looks like a car from "smart". Not too far removed from the smart #3.

robrain

Given the level of hate here (I use that word advisedly), this should do fine in the target market. Most of us aren’t in that market - I doubt Maranello are quaking that a bunch of nerds are sickened to their very core by this car’s existence.

Even if this car had been the most beautiful object ever crafted, it would have faced an “EV bad, should be 12 cylinders” reaction.

Even if it had been the fastest or efficient EV, since that would currently be achieved through extreme aerodynamics, it would have been burdened with “that’s a moose, kill sir jony”.

Since it’s not the fastest EV, it gets compared unfavourably to a discontinued car from a discredited kleptocrat, or more reasonably with a Rimac. One of those nobody with 600k to blow on a car would comparison shop against (and they probably have a few in their garages anyway), the other they’re probably on the waiting list for or looking for used, and the Luce will fill in the gap nicely whilst they wait.

Keep huffing and puffing. Me? I’ll wait until some driving reviews emerge and in the meantime applaud Ferrari for stepping outside their comfort zone. This is undeniably a huge risk for them.

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ZiiS

If the brief was to make an ipad stuck to the dash of a Ferrari not ruin the rest of the car then that is certainly one way to do it.

stillworks

I can't unsee those windscreen wipers :-/

jctdrs

More like Ferrari Duce

CodeCompost

Look like my VW ID.3. I love it but a lot of people don't.

shell0x

Temu Ferrari

brrrrrm

it has paddle shifters - what are those for?

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magiclaw

Love the interior. Hate the exterior.

Grazester

Ferrari done lost their mind! If you told me this was a Kia I would have said it was ugly for a Kia.

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riffraff

Cool car but it looks like a Jony Ive car, not a Ferrari.

clickety_clack

Would be really awesome if you could fit 3 child seats in the back.

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whatever1

The Ferrari e-Multipla!

Unbelievably ugly stance.

gib444

Are those the almost the same colours as the iPhone 5C?? (the red, yellow and blue)

OptionOfT

> The lights gently recede when switched off, perserving the purity of the form

Typo on the Ferrari website...

cfiggers

This almost couldn't be less "Ferrari." Really baffling.

jcmontx

Enzo is rolling on his grave

jcgrillo

At least they didn't paint it red. And it's a good thing Enzo isn't here to see it.

t1234s

The value of everyone manual F430 just went up a bit more.

donkeylazy456

man this looks too much american muscle car. if there is no ferrari logo, everybody will think it is chevy.

andsoitis

Looks like a Lucid.

It’s time for Ive to stop working.

notnullorvoid

I'm surprised we still let Jony Ive design anything.

syx

This is what happens when you hand over the job to a Silicon Valley yuppie with absolutely no car design history. As an Italian, this design feels like an insult and it's mental that a company like Ferrari even approved such a project.

The supercar EV market had such huge potential to innovate and inspire but no we decided to follow these average EV design trends instead.

whalesalad

I think it's pretty cool as a car. But totally not the right move to do this under the Ferrari brand.

rsync

We don't want your electric car.

We want your car, but electric.

All people want is an electric Audi allroad. Instead, we get an e-tron.

All people want is an electric V90 wagon. Instead we get a polestar.

All people want is an electric Jeep Wrangler. Instead we get "Recon EV".

The reason for this is that the incumbent manufacturers understand clearly that the electric versions would completely eclipse the ICE models and their existing investments in design and tooling would rapidly diminish.

... and so, all of the eInitiative, iMobile, TronCars ... it's all a desperate (and lame) attempt to continue selling the ICE line and grow marketshare with the addition of the electric car consumers.

It's a nice idea and it won't work.

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browningstreet

Dumb looking, Back to the Future inspired, toy design.

yangm97

Looks like a sneaker with wheels.

kingkongjaffa

The whole thing looks amateur, this is what every product design student has in their design portfolio when they needed to add an automotive concept. There's chairs and lamps, and they tagged on this car in their PDF.

Looks like a school project not the kind of thing from a proper automotive designer.

Nothing about this conveys fast, lightweight, Italian sports car.

LanceJones

$1.2M in Canada after provincial and federal luxury sales taxes. For a 5100 pound, sub-300 mile range, mid-performer with 23/24" wheels. All those louvres, ducts, and aerodynamics for a terribly inefficient EV. Disappointing. (edited because i had $1.1M as the final price)

wheelhead

This is somehow even worse than the swatch/AP collab.

xtazz

Charging port on the underside?

eur0pa

Che disgrazia

Jemm

"Designed with Sir Jony Ive"; Yikes!

beanjuiceII

wow this thing is uuuugly

866-RON-0-FEZ

Ive is an overrated plonker and my first reaction is to wonder if all the serviceable components are glued in place.

Do you know why no one has ever put rotating switches on a steering wheel face before? Because it requires two fingers to operate the switches and thus taking your entire hand off the wheel. Those knobs and switches might as well be in the center console because it takes a similar amount of effort and diversion of attention to operate.

This looks like a car designed by someone who's never driven before. Did the early prototypes feature bubble domes before they were forced to tell Ive that won't work?

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m0nit0r

I reall don't know if I like this or not.

KellyCriterion

Attention: AUTO-playing videos+sound when visiting

59percentmore

Oof.

mdotk

Nissan Leaf with a hideous bodykit

lnenad

I hate 20 inch, floating, glued to the dash tablets with such a passion. It cannot be such a huge monetary difference to have physical switches for the AC compared to this attention grabbing accident causing contraption that was never meant to be put in a human commandeered vehicle.

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amoss

That is the ugliest Ferrari I've ever seen.

ReptileMan

That is awesome looking Nissan.

bni

The Porsche 914 of 2026

zhainya

This is heartbreaking. Just awful.

seydor

apart from being blasphemy, this also looks so ... 2010

antinomicus

What market exists that would buy this car??

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mrcwinn

Whoa. This is hideous.

jsrozner

I'll take "A waste of the world's resources for $200k, Alex" *600k, sorry

valcron1000

Damn, that looks awful.

goldenarm

[deleted]

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pazimzadeh

Why the Chevrolet Impala 2000-2005 backlights?

I like the handles on the interior display

d--b

The first view from above makes the car look like a smartphone :)

RRRA

Now rebrand it the Apple car, and somehow it would makes sense...

ruckfool

Looks like an expensive Prius .. :(

tomaspiaggio12

458/488 was peak ferrari IMO

LightBug1

I hear the sound of a V6 engine at San Cataldo Cemetery ... the sound of Enzo spinning in his grave ...

jaksa

Ferrari Multipla

shin_lao

This looks terrible. Ferrari sells dreams, not "safe choices".

wat10000

It looks like an Apple Magic Mouse with wheels. Hopefully it also has a charge port on the bottom.

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EugeneOZ

Doesn't look like a sport car. From above it actually looks like a phone. The main thing is that the charging port isn’t on the bottom.

jakeinspace

This sucks

jauntywundrkind

Four wheel steering, active suspension, low center of gravity, 1050 HP...

The display & controls do look very nice!

I love how they found a way to make the sound provide real feedback. I wonder if the cabin gets feedback faster than the speed of sound in air would travel, that would be neat. I'm skeptical they kept the loop fast enough to beat speed of sound in metal though (5000~6000 m/s for steel).

> The Luce’s sound system doesn’t generate artificial noise. Instead, a precision accelerometer mounted at the center of the rear axle captures the actual vibration of the rotating electric components. That signal is then filtered, equalized, and amplified — essentially working like an electric guitar’s amplifier. The result is a sound that’s rooted in the real physics of the machinery, not synthesized from a speaker library.

https://electrek.co/2026/05/25/ferrari-luce-first-electric-f...

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sudo_cowsay

Ratioed

sethops1

This is the ugliest car I've ever seen, and that includes the Cybertruck. I do like the retro modern interior though.

greatgib

I'm wondering, isn't the system of the 2 doors opening facing each other dangerous?

Like I mean, isn't there a risk of the driver slapping or pinching a passenger that is boarding while shutting his door without taking enough care?

dyauspitr

It doesn’t look like a ferrari

b800h

Jesus, did the bloke from the Jaguar rebrand move to Ferrari?

sMarsIntruder

It’s the first Ferrari EV: they had to think disruptively and I really appreciate the courage. Love the design IMHO, looking forward to see the street performances.

deterministic

It doesn't even look like a Ferrari. I am 99.999% sure it will fail.

johnfink8

It looks like something a villainous billionaire would drive in a sci-fi dystopia. And not in a good way.

user432678

Hate to say but this was in one of the Simpson’s episode

sschueller

Sorry, but that is grotesque. I don't want a Tesla with Ferrari badging.

ernsheong

Took OpenAI's money and is now designing cars, lol

riccardomc

mamma mia...

inshard

Those rear tail lights don’t sit right with me. I know there’s probably some aerodynamic reason behind it but Jony, those aren’t the proportions that just work. Steve wouldn’t approve this. And I feel Jony was always partly Steve when Jony was at his best.That said the issue is the asymmetric black negative space below and above the red circles. This is mostly fixed if you get the Luce in black or very dark gray.

lossolo

It looks like a budget car, not an exotic supercar.

cmrdporcupine

$600k and they still won't give you physical climate controls.

Parsimonious product design with IMHO out of date conception of what's "cool". I think Ive is pretty washed up at this point.

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fragmede

Why do suicide doors if you have to have that B pillar?

ChrisArchitect
6stringmerc

Oh wow, it’s even worse than I imagined based on those early images of the PlaySkool cockpit renderings!

The body lines? What body lines? I’m a vocal critic of derivative design, but this space egg usually is little more than a Junior Study drawing at best. It’s so bland it might as well be still made of clay.

I’m not being unfairly harsh here, there’s a huge tradition of sorting a car’s emotional response - yes, Countach being a prime case study - but I get more “This is interesting” from the latest Prius than anything with this design, in parts or taken as a whole. I can’t be alone, and I suppose the reactions will be savage. I am kind of giddy thinking about what some of the more crude phrasings might be from the likes of Clarkson or Harris.

This is a design for the Super Yacht club. If it was a concept car for a Chinese knock off of a Honda, it would be rightly panned at first sight. Was it designed on a first generation Macintosh?

It has no character whatsoever. The interior looks like patio furniture intended for a retirement home. To call it a failure is not quite right, because sometimes things like the Pontiac Aztek have coherent thought and risks involved. This has none of those things. Mayo on white bread with a glass of room temperature tap water.

In a strange way I love it because it might as well be called the Ferrari Hubris. Just…wow…

ktallett

It would be a great looking Hyundai but it is a dreadful looking Ferrari. The cost of such a car will be far higher than it deserves. Ferrari for me is synonymous with genuinely beautiful curvaceous cars that have a gorgeous, slightly old looking interior. This is not it, nor is it take Ferrari into the modern day.

sinsterizme

Wow, this looks atrocious. I was thinking this was perhaps a budget model by its appearance, but then I looked up the retail price…

vanh4lt

Is it just me, or does this look like Jaguar's self-inflicted brand damage?

eporomaa

And it has an app! They went full retard.

jebarker

Imagine being able to afford a Ferrari and then buying the one that looks like a fancy Prius

mixtureoftakes

insane levels of slop, so bad it almost feels intentional

saaaaaam

This would have been an AMAZING Volvo. Sadly, it’s a very disappointing Ferrari.

ardit33

LMAO, this thing is so ugly. It looks like a generic Chinese EV. Interior looks good, but the exterior is just a boat. 5.05m long, 2m wide, 5000lbs heavy. Looks like a mix of the Jag Epace and the Mustang EV/Mache

Can't believe they are asking 600k for this thing.

It is almost like Ferrari is trying to punk its customers.

Ps. Everyone is hating it on FerrariChat

ionwake

bro time to short ferrari lmao

PS - its a real shame because the inside is perfect

senectus1

the ferrariphone

ghoshbishakh

I like the design. (Might be a hot take)

lofaszvanitt

Oh looks like a fucken apple mobile. Of course it was designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson. :DDD What a horrible shitshow, jeeesus. Since they left Pininfarina, Ferraris looks like, well, shit. Shame.

coolgoose

Is this a joke ? It looks beyond crap.

IAmGraydon

Is Ferrari serious with this? Are they trying to commit brand suicide? What in the world is going on with all of these large companies doing the absolute stupidest possible thing lately?

epolanski

Reminder that Ferrari's business model is all about "buy these 10 cars you don't care for, so maybe we sell you the exotic one you really want".

Nothing new to see here, plenty of high end watches and luxury bag makers do the same.

voidfunc

Looks like shit.

dark-star

Wait, what's with those suicide doors? Weren't they, considered to be super dangerous? Will this car pass the safety regulations in the EU with those doors?

slinkydeveloper

Wow they went all-in creating a car for silicon valley tech bros...

Even the color they chose for the reveal speaks to me like "rich luxury car without personality"

docheinestages

Terrible design.

objektif

I once asked HN why EVs look funky and many people responded with “oohh no they don’t what are you talking about”. Tell me now if this looks weird or not.

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egeozcan

Yet another time I've found something beautiful, only to discover that almost everyone else hates it.

Maybe there's a reason why I'm not a designer.

senectus1

where are the specs for this FerrariPhone?

the phone screen shots show a pathetic 270km range...

fletchwine

There is only one Luce. The most beautiful of all. If they had any talent,they could have left a few nods in style to the classic.

https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/auto/250-gt-berlinetta-lusso

ReDeiPirati

it looks so good the new Apple car /s

h14h

Huh. I don't understand the hate because I think this looks incredible.

The interior is head and shoulders the best I've ever seen in a car too.

Might not look like other Ferraris, but why should it? It's NOT like other Ferraris.

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sheepscreek

Wow. The only way I can describe this is as a bastard child of Apple and Rolls-Royce, and therein lies the problem. This doesn't feel like a Ferrari to me. Someone getting into a Ferrari wants to feel like they're trying to tame a beast, not being pampered in a Rolls-Royce.

Don't get me wrong, it's a stunning car. But I miss the screaming reds and yellows most of all. And the interface, polished as it is, feels almost too intuitive. Ferrari shouldn't feel effortless!

Now, if this were badged as an Apple car with a sticker price under $100k, we'd be having a very different conversation.