The Ferrari Luce is horrifying almost everyone. And that’s the smartest thing Ferrari has ever done.

When I write these lines, less than twelve hours have passed since Ferrari presented its first electric car. But what could be a polarizing release has become more or less unanimous if you scroll through social networks like X or Instagram comments. He Ferrari Luce is: ugly.

There would be those who were in favor of a completely electric Ferrari but if we talk about its pure aesthetics, no one seems to make sense of it. It didn’t take long for them to arrive comparisons with a Nissan Leafjokes that They resemble the Luce with Apple’s Magic Mouse and its controversial loading port and, of course, a huge string of comments in which it is questioned that someone can buy “that” for more than 600,000 euros.

And that’s the smartest thing Ferrari has ever done.

No, I will not be the one to defend the aesthetics of the most anticipated electric car in years. I won’t be the one to say that I like it, because I would be betraying the truth. I will not be the one to defend, even, its interior.

But I understand what they have done.

Or I think I understand it, you will say.

The largest accessory in the world

Ferrari is passion.

Ferrari is sportsmanship.

Ferrari is the sound of the best V12.

But Ferrari has also become something more. Ferrari, the most famous car manufacturer in the world, has long since transcended the market itself. The Il Cavallino brand is fashion and design. Although some don’t like (or we don’t like) that fashion or that design.

With the current European emissions regulations and due to its own positioning in the collective ideology, Ferrari needed to release an electric car. It is not that the brand has problems passing on the million-dollar fines for excess emissions from its cars to its customers, but the Luce allows them to expand their profit margin per unit sold so that Europe does not narrow it. And we must not forget that the huge investment in R&D not only reverts to the Luce, the Ferrari F80, which is the brand’s most advanced car and one of those exclusive units that the firm launches every 10 years mounts the same electric motors for its hybrid train. Decisions that will be maintained over time.

In short, if Ferrari wants continue putting a naturally aspirated V12 engine on the market Earning the enormous amount of money he earned with each unit sold, he had no choice but to launch an electric car.

At this point, the company had two paths to take. The first was to create an electric Ferrari. Simply. An aesthetic similar to what we already know, but with an electrical system that takes the hiccups away. There would be no doubt that the launch would have been less polarizing, with its detractors assured but also its staunch defenders.

The second possibility was to take an alternative route, to do something completely different. And that’s what they’ve done.

Right now, the electric supercar market does not exist. The Porsche Taycan achieved enormous success in its first years, hiding its enormous weight with a behavior that our colleague Héctor Ares said he had never experienced. But over the years, sales have been deflating. Mate Rimac said that his supercar, the Rimac Refrigerator which was sold as the electric car faster and more advanced of the world, It is not sold because the customer feels that a political decision is being imposed on them. Lamborghini has canceled its plans to launch an electric car because it says it does not match its essence and, we imagine, potential sales have cooled down.

Anyone looking for a supercar wants it for image. But also because he enjoys the sound of his engine, the sharp click of his gear change. It’s an image, of course, but the experience brings with it additional sensations that are impossible to match with an electric car at the moment, no matter how fast it is.

The alternative has been find a new audience.

The choice of Jony Ive to design the interior of the car gave clues that, for better or worse, the Ferrari Luce would be different. And you may like it more or less but the design exercise is intelligent and well thought out. The choice of the former Apple guru together with Marc Newson he anticipated strong emotions. And the result speaks for itself.

According to the brand, this duo “was given the necessary creative freedom to define the design direction of the project from the beginning” and their collaboration with Ferrari Design Studio added “a fresh perspective and mutual enrichment, allowing the introduction of a new aesthetic language”

If it makes complete sense, it is because Ferrari has lost the purist in this segment. Whether you like it more or less aesthetically, betting on the same line to create an electric supercar would condemn you to ostracism. Rejected by the hardest wing and diluted in the range for the client who was no longer considering a Ferrari from the start.

The Ferrari Luce is the largest accessory in the world. It is not designed to check if that 0-100 km/h in 2.5 seconds is real. Or if it is true that it reaches 310 km/h top speed. Nor to face his almost 2,300 kg on a circuit.

The Ferrari Luce was born as a luxury accessory for the elite. To enjoy the best restaurants in the center of cities like London, New York or Miami. The way of shouting that you are trendy, that no matter how much money you have you are committed to a certain lifestyle. Just like a Lamborghini Urus, it is designed to be walked on the street and not to face a circuit, no matter how surprising its performance on it was.

That the car is the first five-seater Ferrari in history is a good example of the underlying philosophy. Enzo Ferrari said that as a Ferrari customer, you bought an engine and the rest was given to you. That loses meaning with an electric car and that is why the approach must be different.

The intention is to attract a new type of customer. One that values ​​having a Ferrari in hand but also values ​​that it does not rattle and that it is comfortable in a big city. As incomprehensible as it may seem to some, the world is full of young people (millennials and generation Z are already its main customers) who have no sympathy for those mythical V12s but are attracted to groundbreaking designs, to disruptive proposals. Always within the convention of buying a Ferrari.

The Ferrari Luce is designed more than ever to walk and show off. But also to make comfortable on a daily basis how uncomfortable it always was to have a Ferrari. An electric drivetrain allows you to harness its burst of power with ease and unleash its full potential at the push of a button.

It is the perfect car for the manager who wants to show off his commitment to the environment. For those who want to go to the country club and pick up the children from school in comfort. For those who want to regularly go through the center of London or Paris to go to the latest trendy restaurant or terrace without complications. For those who want to position themselves as those who value that misunderstood design that everyone seems to criticize.

Ferrari has managed to turn the car into a fashion item. In something that accompanies like a luxury bag or watch. Ferrari has created the largest accessory in the world.

And, let’s not forget it. Ferrari does not make cars for ordinary mortals. Ferrari makes cars for its potential customers and to continue growing its customer base. It has managed to position itself as that luxury brand that is inaccessible to 99% of the population, which shines for its exclusivity but that “everyone has”. It has managed to maintain a tightrope balance between exclusiveness and “mass” sales.

The Ferrari Luce only furthers that idea.

Photos | Ferrari

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