► New Ferrari Luce – Maranello’s first EV – officially revealed
► Quad motors, bold design inside and out from LoveFrom
► Plus ‘authentic’ sounds, paddle shifts and circa-£440k price
The most controversial new car in years? That could quite possibly be this: the new Ferrari Luce. Why? Because you’re looking at Maranello’s first electric car.
The Luce has had a rather long gestation period, with development officially kicking off in 2021 (Ferrari had been pondering making an EV for a few years before then), when EVs were riding high and increasing in popularity in the premium, sport and luxury space. At that time, Ferrari announced it was creating an entirely new ‘e-building’ to manufacture it and that more than one would be on the way.
The world slightly reassessed that overly positive attitude to EVs not long after and so did Ferrari, confirming it would remain ‘multi-energy’ with its iconic V12 engines remaining for now. But it’s clear Ferrari hasn’t gone soft on Luce development despite changing headwinds; almost the entire car is newly developed, from the design to the architecture underneath, the batteries and e-motors as well as the interior. That has meant huge investment.
No, the Luce has largely been a project that’s been worked on by LoveFrom, a ‘creative collective’ of artists, designers and musicians that was founded by Sir Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson in 2019.
If Jony Ive’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he spearheaded decades of design cleverness at Apple, where he and his team there crafting icons like the colourful iMac G3, the original iPod and iPhone and so many others over the span of almost 30 years.
Ferrari says the Luce launches with 23-inch front/24-inch rear wheels, with a sporty five-spoke wheel being offered as well as a more aerodynamic version that claims to add an extra five per cent to the car’s range.
Other customisation options will include stripes down the sides of the doors, as well as the option to colour the black C-pillar panel that stretches over the roof, but Newson is keen to keep a tight set of personalisation options and ‘not make it a free for all.’
What’s it like inside?
Quite possibly the most impressive part of the entire Luce’s package. We’ve seen a lot of the Luce’s interior elements in isolation after Ferrari unveiled bits of it ahead of the Luce’s reveal but, naturally, we’re now seeing it all in one piece and in situ.
LoveFrom’s team have, for lack of a better phrase, gone a little retro here. Newson, for example, freely admits he’s a classic car collector and a Ferrari obsessive – and has been keen to ensure some physicality remains in the interior design. ‘Just because the vehicle is electric doesn’t mean you need to get carried away with the electronics,’ he says.
The central infotainment screen itself can be pivoted to face the driver or passenger and comes with toggles for crucial controls like climate, seating and fan speed. The finely crafted handle underneath can also act as a rest for your hand. And, when you start the car, you press the key into the centre console where it glows upon activation.
On top of that, you activate launch control by pulling down a toggle on the ceiling. It’s another bit of theatre and a nod to aviation, and one of many impressively well-crafted details inside. Doing so turns all of the dials orange.
Rear space is good for adults, with the rear seat area coming with its own small display and air vents, as well as an armrest with cupholders in it. The fifth seat in the centre naturally isn’t full size, but will still hold an adult for a short while. The boot, meanwhile, is shallow but long, with 597 litres of luggage volume.
It had better be fast…
Well, let’s start with the performance basics first. The Luce debuts with four electric motors – one dedicated to each wheel. The motors for each axle are housed in one single e-axle per, er… axle, with each motor having its own gearbox and driveshaft.
The battery powering it is a mammoth 122kWh in size, giving a quoted 329 miles of electric driving range. It uses pouch cells supplied by South Korean battery company SK On, with 14 cells per module and 12 modules per Luce pack. The electric Ferrari uses 800-volt electronics, enabling 350kW DC charging speeds.
Power output depends on mode. Range mode shuts off the front two motors and limits power to 429bhp; Tour mode activates the front motors, ups power to 617bhp and unlocks the Luce’s 193mph top speed; Performance mode ups that to 972bhp. Activating launch control gets you the full whack: 1035bhp. At maximum attack, a Luce can sprint to 62mph in 2.5 seconds.
There needs to be more to it than power…
Because this is Ferrari, yes there is. Some of the tech on board is evolutionary to what we’ve seen on prior Ferrari supercars and GTs. The chassis is largely aluminium (and a lot of it has been recycled for use here) but, even so, the Luce weighs in at 2260kg. Gianmaria Fulgenzi, chief of product development, notes that the weight figure is ‘a little bit more than a Purosangue,’ but claims the Luce drives and handles like a car that’s a few hundred kilos lighter.
The Luce benefits from active suspension, for example, but this is a third-generation version of the one that launched on the Purosangue, then evolved for the F80 supercar and has been upgraded again here. Independent rear-wheel steering features, too, which uses software to calculate how much steering each wheel requires.
The sound also neatly plays into another feature of the Luce: torque shift engagement (TSE). This is where those meaty paddles come into play, with TSE being designed to add a little bit of extra driver engagement. As well as an ‘auto’ mode that defaults to full power and a middling amount of regen, TSE adds five ‘steps’ that both increase in power and decrease in regeneration respectively. So, step one has a limited amount of power but a high level of regen, while step five unlocks all the power but decelerates ‘similar to a Purosangue in eighth gear,’ according to de Simone. TSE is not strictly a simulated gearbox like Hyundai’s N-Shift. There’s no redline that cuts off power completely; you can still accelerate to top speed in the first step; it’ll just take longer.
It’s effectively there to make you feel more involved in the driving experience; Ferrari is keen for its first EV not to just be a point-and-squirt acceleration weapon. ‘It’s just fun to experience shifting like on an internal combustion engine Ferrari,’ smiles de Simone. ‘We’ve just redesigned the experience for the new world.’
Come on then – how much is a Ferrari Luce?
Effectively around €500,000, with UK pricing to hover around £440,000 – and that’ll naturally be before any options or customisation choices.
For reference, an electric Porsche Cayenne Turbo has an identical acceleration time and a slightly better claimed range; though this fact will almost certainly not matter to the kind of clientele expected for the Luce.
The first deliveries are expected to arrive in early 2027.