'Somehow worse than I could ever have imagined': the new Ferrari Luce EV is getting a brutal reception, but legendary Apple designer Jony Ive has defended his choices — and there's one key decision most people agree with | Tech Radar
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'Somehow worse than I could ever have imagined': the new Ferrari Luce EV is getting a brutal reception, but legendary Apple designer Jony Ive has defended his choices — and there's one key decision most people agree with
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Ferrari has unveiled the Luce, its first electric car
It's partly designed by ex-Apple design guru Jony Ive
We got our first look at the cockpit of the Ferrari Luce back in February, and now the entirety of Ferrari's much anticipated, first electric vehicle has been revealed — accompanied by rather a mixed reaction from drivers.
As Motor 1 reports, the car was partly designed by Love From, the luxury design company headed up by Jony Ive of i Phone and i Pad fame. It packs in four electric motors and up to 1,050 horsepower, and retails for €550,000 and up (about
One commenter on Reddit has described the car as "giving Waymo" vibes, while another says the design is "somehow worse than I could ever have imagined". Another comment sums up the general reaction that we've seen online: "Ferrari have absolutely and completely lost their minds."
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The reaction from the rest of the industry hasn't been all that positive either. It comes across as a "mix between a Honda Accord EV and Tesla 3" according to analyst Pierre-Olivier Essig from AIR Capital, Bloomberg reports. "We are lost in translation with Ferrari’s new strategy."
It's fair to say the aesthetics of the Luce haven't met with universal approval, but Ferrari knows it doesn't necessarily have to appeal to the masses on Reddit. The manufacturer sells less than 14,000 cars per year, and as long as there are enough people taken with the charms of this new model, it will do just fine.
In an interview with Cleo Abram, Jony Ive and Ferrari Chief Designer Flavio Manzoni have gone into more detail about the thinking behind the design of the Luce. In particular, Ive talks about moving away from the multi-touch design of the Apple products he designed, which can be seen on large car dashboards from the likes of Tesla.
"Multi-touch shouldn't be in a car, I believe," says Ive, while also saying it's a "fabulous technology" that suits the user interfaces of phones and tablets. "If you're having to do basic things, it requires of course by definition that you're not looking where you're going, and you're looking at a display."
There is a central touchscreen in the Luce, but it's reasonably compact in terms of its size, and only requires single taps — guided by a handrail along the bottom. There are also plenty of dials and switches throughout the cockpit for more direct, tactile control of the car, with some clever lighting effects attached.
This is a vehicle that can get up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour in 2.5 seconds, with a top speed of more than 310 kilometers (193 miles) per hour. The range on a single charge is quoted as being 530 kilometers (329 miles). For those drivers who are taken with the looks and specs, initial orders are now open.
"The obvious thing or certainly the easy, lazy thing to do would be to mimic what people are familiar with," Ive adds. It's certainly a divisive, bold design — which has had plenty of jibes aimed at it — but let us know what you think in the comments below.
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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on Tech Radar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, Pop Sci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.
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