Ferrari Luce interior: full marks for form & function, but is the context right?

Ferrari is bringing back buttons and dials! But in an EV. And with Marc Newson and Jony Ive (Apple’s ex designer), founders of design firm LoveFrom. They’re bringing ‘feel’ to something devoid of a ‘connection’. What a dichotomy. I’m thrilled, though, with Ferrari’s decision. I’ve written so many columns about the need for physical controls and said this in pretty much every review, but as much as I love the design, I also don’t like it.

You see, ask any designer and they will tell you that design has many layers or considerations like form, function, emotion, context, outcome, and much more. To quote Steve Jobs' famous line ‘Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works’. So full marks to Ferrari and LoveFrom for hitting the ‘works’ bit squarely on the head. Today’s scourge, touchscreens and touch controls, simply do not work when driving a car, more so when pretty much every function is via them. In an automobile, you want controls to work seamlessly and be able to access them intuitively and easily, and from what we’ve seen of the Luce’s interior, this should be the case.

But design is also about emotion and context. The Luce’s interior design is very emotive, it’s wonderfully playful and cute as a button, and you look upon it with fondness. But that’s where it goes wrong for me – the context isn’t right. In a Mini this would be fabulous. But in a Ferrari? Mini is playful, Ferrari is thrilling. Ferrari knows this of course, and the Luce has some bits like roof-mounted toggle switches and the launch control button. This aircraft like positioning is simply brilliant and evokes a thrilling feeling, but then the drive selector is a cute little stub, not a meaty aircraft throttle-like selector. Again, too cute.

So yes, for me, the Luce interior hits the right note with regards to function and form; it’s just the context where it is off. Or perhaps my point of view could be misplaced. Perhaps I’m seeing this through an older or different brand positioning, one that its internal combustion cars stand for. The electrics perhaps need to have a new identity. Time, and customers lucky enough to own one, will deliver the final verdict.