Ferrari dropped the placeholder name "Elettrica" and gave its first battery electric vehicle a real name last week: Luce. Italian for "light," though Ferrari claims it also hints at electricity. The company staged the interior reveal in San Francisco on the 36th floor of the Transamerica Pyramid, where journalists were shown individual components laid out like artifacts in a museum. The steering wheel. The binnacle. The center console. The seats. All designed in collaboration with LoveFrom, the creative agency founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and designer Marc Newson.
This is the second phase of Ferrari's three-part launch strategy. Phase one revealed the underlying technology in October 2025 at Ferrari's e-building in Maranello. Phase two showed the interior this week. Phase three, the full exterior reveal, happens in May 2026 in Italy. By then, we'll know what a four-door, four-seat, 1000-horsepower electric Ferrari actually looks like. For now, we know what it feels like to sit inside one.
Ferrari chairman John Elkann, CEO Benedetto Vigna, and chief designer Flavio Manzoni have been working with Ive and Newson for five years on this project. According to Top Gear, Ive described the collaboration as "cross-fertilisation between two different fields," echoing the design innovation that occurred in Italy during the 1960s and early 1970s. Manzoni told media that the goal was to translate new design codes the way Ferrari did in its golden era, creating something that didn't exist before rather than iterating on what already works.
The approach diverges sharply from the touchscreen-dominated cabins that define most modern EVs. LoveFrom and Ferrari deliberately rejected large displays in favor of physical controls, precision-machined components, and tactile feedback. The irony is thick. Jony Ive pioneered the touchscreen era with the iPhone and iPad, then arrived at Ferrari to prove that buttons, dials, and toggles still matter when you're trying to drive fast.
The Steering Wheel
Ive said the inspiration came from the steering wheel in his personal Ferrari 250 Europa, a three-spoke wooden Nardi design from the 1950s and 1960s. The Luce's version reinterprets that aesthetic using modern materials and manufacturing. Made from 100 percent recycled aluminum alloy developed specifically for this car, the wheel consists of 19 CNC-machined parts and weighs 400 grams less than a standard Ferrari steering wheel.
The three-spoke structure is intentionally exposed to showcase the aluminum's finish and strength. According to Road & Track, the steering column is solid billet aluminum bolted to the thinner three-spoke wheel, which is then wrapped in layers of leather. The design incorporates all required 21st-century safety features including an airbag, button-operated turn signals, and Ferrari's Manettino and eManettino drive control systems.
Controls are organized into two modules echoing Formula One layouts. The left rotary dial is the eManettino, controlling drive modes: Range, Tour, and Perfo (Performance). Range mode limits power to 50 percent. Tour mode allows 70 percent. Only Perfo delivers the full 1000-plus horsepower. The right Manettino adjusts driving dynamics, configuring powertrain and suspension characteristics for ice, wet, dry, and sport conditions. Electronic stability control can be deactivated here as well.
The paddle shifters deserve their own mention. Made from machined aluminum, they deliver what Carscoops described as "a cold, solid, metallic click" with each shift. Except there are no gears to shift in an EV. Instead, the paddles control torque delivery for progressive acceleration, combined with recovered power from regenerative braking. Ferrari and LoveFrom went through more than 20 rounds of testing just to perfect the sound and feel of each switch.
The Binnacle
Behind the steering wheel sits what Ferrari and LoveFrom call the binnacle, an instrument cluster that moves with the steering column for optimal viewing at all times. The display was custom-developed with Samsung Display engineers and represents another world first: two ultra-thin OLED panels overlap to create three-dimensional depth, with three cutouts revealing a second display layer behind the first.
The layout mimics analog gauges at first glance, complete with a physical needle sweeping across digital graphics. According to Ferrari's official release, the design was inspired by historic automotive cues and the clear, purposeful graphics found in aviation, particularly helicopters and aircraft. The typography and layout pay tribute to the Veglia and Jaeger instruments from classic Ferraris.
A new display element called the Torque Meter sits above the tachometer, similar to shift indicators in combustion-engine sports cars. It signals the optimal moment for the driver to increase torque, providing feedback on when to deploy more power or ease off to maximize efficiency or regeneration.
Physical Controls and the Center Console
The center console is mounted on a ball-and-socket joint allowing it to orient toward either the driver or passenger. Every control is physical. Real buttons. Real toggles. Real rotary dials. Ferrari's statement on this approach is explicit: the company "defied the convention that electric cars must be dominated by large touchscreens," prioritizing controls that are "intuitive and satisfying."
Materials follow the same philosophy. Machined aluminum knobs and glass buttons mark the steering wheel controls. The glass is precision-milled Corning Gorilla Glass, chosen for durability, scratch resistance, and high visibility. The aluminum is 100 percent recycled alloy machined from solid billets using advanced three- or five-axis CNC technology, then subjected to state-of-the-art anodization. The process creates an ultra-thin hexagonal cell microstructure on the surface, ensuring exceptional hardness and a refined micro-texture. The finish maintains deep, vibrant color over time.
According to Electrek, the aluminum sub-structure behind the controls is punctuated with four air vents that are themselves objects of design precision. LoveFrom's influence is unmistakable: the attention to detail, the material choices, the obsessive refinement of every component. These are hallmarks of Apple products under Ive's direction, now applied to a Ferrari.
The Key and Startup Ritual
The key is made from Corning Fusion5 Glass with an E Ink display, marking another automotive first. In standby mode, the display shows yellow. Insert the key into its magnetized dock beside the shifter, and the E Ink switches from yellow to black while the cabin lights up in what Ferrari describes as a "carefully choreographed sequence." The control panel and main instrument display illuminate, and the car prepares to drive.
This matters more than it sounds. Ferrari admitted it messed up with the SF90's touch-sensitive start button on the steering wheel, which removed much of the theater from firing up a Maranello-built car. The Luce's startup ritual restores that sense of occasion through deliberate design and material choices, making the act of starting the car feel significant rather than perfunctory.
The Seats
Ferrari revealed slim leather-covered bucket seats radically different from the thick, multi-sectional bolstered buckets in the Purosangue, Ferrari's other recent four-seater. Car and Driver notes the Luce's seats use no cheap runners, with components chosen for precision and quality rather than cost optimization. The seat design reflects the overall cabin philosophy: simplified forms in service of driving, creating an environment that feels calm, focused, and spacious.
The Technology Underneath
Ferrari revealed the Luce's powertrain specifications in October 2025. The car uses two electric axles with four permanently excited synchronous motors, two per axle. The motors utilize Halbach array rotors, a technology derived from Formula One. The front axle delivers 210 kW and can be decoupled at any speed to improve efficiency, engaging automatically in all-wheel-drive mode when required. The rear axle provides 620 kW.
Total system output exceeds 1000 horsepower. The 0-62 mph time is under 2.5 seconds. The battery pack consists of 15 modules, each containing 14 cells, with a gross capacity of 122 kWh and charging capability up to 350 kW. Range is projected at 330 miles by European testing methods. According to Car and Driver, the Luce will weigh just under 5100 pounds, making it heavier than the Purosangue SUV and Ferrari's beefiest offering to date.
The inclusion of an ADAS button for autonomous driving systems suggests the Luce may support driver assistance features, though Ferrari has not detailed the extent of those systems. The drivetrain includes a manual mode similar to Hyundai's Ioniq 5 N, allowing drivers to control torque delivery and simulate gear changes through the paddle shifters despite the absence of a transmission.
What We Still Don't Know
The exterior. That's the big one. Ferrari has kept the bodywork completely under wraps, and the May reveal in Italy will be the first time anyone sees what a four-door electric Ferrari actually looks like. Spy shots from testing near Maranello showed a heavily camouflaged vehicle, but no clear indication of final design language.
Pricing has not been confirmed, though Ferrari stated the car will cost over €500,000 (approximately $535,000). At that price point, the Luce isn't competing with the Tesla Model S or Porsche Taycan. It's competing with the idea that an electric Ferrari can still feel like a Ferrari, which is a harder sell than raw performance numbers.
Production timeline remains vague. The car was initially supposed to launch in 2025 as one of six new vehicles that year, but the exterior reveal slipped to May 2026. Actual customer deliveries could follow shortly after, or Ferrari could extend the timeline further. The company has not committed to specific production volume targets or delivery schedules.
Market reception is uncertain. Debate continues over the size of the market for ultra-high-performance, ultra-expensive EVs. Ferrari's traditional customer base buys cars for engine sound, throttle response, and the visceral experience of combustion power. The Luce offers none of that, replacing it with instantaneous torque, silent acceleration, and regenerative braking. Whether Ferrari purists embrace that trade remains to be seen.
Why This Matters
Ferrari could have built a conventional EV. Giant touchscreen. Minimalist white plastic interior. Software-defined everything. Tesla proved that formula works, and Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, and BMW followed the same path with varying degrees of success. LoveFrom and Ferrari chose a different direction entirely, arguing that electrification is an opportunity to rethink automotive design from first principles rather than copy what already exists.
The result is an interior that looks and feels like nothing else on the market. Glass buttons that click with precision. Aluminum components machined from solid billets. A steering wheel inspired by 1960s racing cars but incorporating modern safety systems and drive controls. OLED displays that create depth through overlapping layers. A key made from glass with an E Ink screen. A startup ritual designed to feel significant.
This approach carries risk. Customers paying over half a million euros might expect more touchscreen real estate and digital integration, not fewer screens and more physical controls. The automotive industry has spent a decade convincing buyers that giant displays and software interfaces represent progress, and Ferrari is arguing the opposite. The bet is that buyers at this price point value craftsmanship, tactility, and design integrity over screen size and software features.
Jony Ive and Marc Newson's involvement adds credibility to that bet. These are the designers who defined the aesthetics of the iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air, and Apple Watch. Their influence on technology and design over the past 20 years is difficult to overstate. When Apple abandoned its automotive project, the "what if" question seemed destined to remain unanswered. LoveFrom's collaboration with Ferrari on the Luce provides at least a partial answer: this is what happens when the designers who pioneered touchscreen interfaces decide physical controls still matter.
The exterior reveal in May will determine whether Ferrari and LoveFrom's philosophy extends beyond the cabin. If the bodywork matches the interior's design quality and material integrity, the Luce could redefine what an electric performance car looks and feels like. If it doesn't, the beautiful interior will sit inside a disappointing package, and the whole project becomes a cautionary tale about prioritizing cabin design over overall execution.
For now, we know Ferrari's first EV will be called Luce. We know it produces over 1000 horsepower and hits 62 mph in under 2.5 seconds. We know it has four seats, four motors, and a 122 kWh battery. We know the interior was designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson over five years of collaboration with Ferrari's styling center. We know it rejects touchscreen dominance in favor of physical controls, machined aluminum, precision glass, and carefully choreographed startup rituals.
What we don't know is what it looks like from the outside, when customers can buy one, or whether Ferrari purists will accept an electric car regardless of how thoughtfully it's designed. May 2026 will answer at least one of those questions. The rest will take years to resolve.