The badge is Ferrari. The design conversation includes the man who helped make the iPhone an object of desire.
Now comes something considerably harder to slip into your pocket.
This is the Ferrari Luce, the Italian company’s first fully electric car. Australian pricing has been announced at $991,446 before on-road costs. A few options and the business of getting it registered should comfortably take care of the remaining change from a million dollars. Customer deliveries here are expected late in 2027.
At that price, you’re entitled to an opinion about how it looks.
DESIGNED BY WHOM?
Sir Jony Ive’s reputation was built at Apple, where he helped shape the iMac, iPod and iPhone. Few designers have had more influence over the objects we carry, touch and stare at every day.
But this deserves more than a celebrity designer headline. Australian designer Marc Newson is the other co-founder of LoveFrom, the studio involved in the Luce. Together, they worked with Ferrari’s own design team to bring a different perspective to the car’s exterior and interior.
The result invites a useful question: what should an electric Ferrari look like when it no longer needs to organise itself around a combustion engine?
Our view is that it should take a chance. Whether this particular chance has produced something beautiful is a discussion best conducted with the photographs open.
There is no shortage of reverence around the Ferrari badge or the Ive name. Neither should make the car immune to scrutiny.
THE INTERESTING BIT IS INSIDE
Perhaps the most interesting decision is that the people associated with some of the world’s most famous screens have resisted making everything happen on one.
The Luce combines digital displays with physical buttons, switches and dials. Ferrari describes controls grouped around their function, with essential information directly ahead of the driver. Four doors and five seats also make this a considerably more accommodating proposition than the traditional weekend Ferrari.
There is something pleasing about that. After years of carmakers hiding ordinary functions behind menus, an expensive new car that recognises the usefulness of a button feels almost rebellious.
The cabin is where the design partnership has the best opportunity to earn its keep. A striking shape gets photographed. A good control gets appreciated every time you use it.
YES, IT’S EXTREMELY FAST
Ferrari claims 0–100km/h in 2.5 seconds and a top speed of 310km/h. Four motors provide a quoted maximum 772kW, while a 122kWh battery supports direct-current (DC) charging at up to 350kW. Kerb weight is 2260kg. These are manufacturer figures, rather than WattCar road-test results.
That should settle most concerns about whether it can accelerate.
It does rather less to settle whether you would fall in love with it.
Extraordinary straight-line performance is no longer exclusive territory. Plenty of EVs can rearrange your internal organs for substantially less money. Ferrari’s challenge is to make the steering, chassis, response and sense of occasion feel worth the difference.
Sound is part of that task. Ferrari says the Luce captures and amplifies the natural vibrations of its electric drivetrain, rather than simply playing an imitation combustion-engine soundtrack. The electric-guitar analogy is Ferrari’s, and it is an intriguing one. We’ll reserve judgement until we hear it working.
THE MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION
We like that Ferrari has allowed its first EV to provoke a discussion beyond battery size and acceleration.
We also like the idea that Ive and Newson’s contribution might be judged through the things you touch and use, rather than simply the value their names add to the launch announcement.
But famous designers do not automatically make a beautiful car. Nor does a prancing horse automatically make every new shape a masterpiece.
The Luce will eventually have to make its case on the road. For now, Ferrari has supplied the photographs.
At that price, Ive got my doubts.
Images: Ferrari manufacturer publicity photography.