It’s finally here! The wraps are off Ferrari’s first EV – the Luce. You have read the stats, you have seen elements of the retro-themed and controversial new interior designed by LoveFrom, a firm co-founder by former Apple Design Chief Jony Ive and now here’s the Luce in all its entirety. It’s a four door, five-seater, 1050hp born electric GT with 530km estimated range and it happens to wear the prancing horse logo. The order books are already open globally, with prices starting from €550,000 (approximately Rs 6.10 crore).
- Quad electric motors produce a total of 1050hp, 990Nm
- 0-100kph takes a claimed 2.5 seconds, 310kph top-speed and 530km range
- First Ferrari to come with a five-seater interior layout
Ferrari Luce exterior design
Fair to say, the exterior design penned by LoveFrom, is just as controversial as the interior. Conceal the badges, and it looks nothing like a Ferrari, not even like a typical high-performance EV. Ferrari says it was always intended to be 'unconventional' and 'disruptive'. Being a born-electric vehicle, it’s really been designed from a clean sheet of paper and harks back to no tradition. The unusual shape deliberately ditches the classic mid-engined look for an almost fastback sedan-like profile.
The design is characterised by what resembles a two-piece body – there’s a gloss black passenger cell that’s wrapped around by a coloured outer shell. Key visual elements include a floating front bridge, from under which the bonnet rises smoothly to meet the windscreen and culminates into a fastback-like roofline. The headlamps appear neatly concealed under this floating bridge, while at the rear, the quad circular tail lamps are perhaps the only spec of familiarity from existing Ferraris. The rear, too, has that wrap around effect, as if the outer shell is hiding a smaller body underneath.
The blacked-out strakes on the front doors vent air from the front wheelarches, and it also gets active cooling fins at the front to reduce drag. A very cool detail are the windshield wipers, which rest vertically at the edges of the windshield, and do not interrupt the flow between the bonnet and the windshield while also reducing drag. Ferrari says the Luce has the lowest drag coefficient of any roadgoing Ferrari at 0.254 cD, which is 25 percent less than an Amalfi, while having the same level of downforce, In fact, the Luce doesn’t use any active aerodynamics for downforce, all in the interest of aerodynamic efficiency.
The Luce is also Ferrari’s largest car yet. Measuring in 5026mm in length, the Luce is 53mm longer than a Purosangue, while measuring 1999mm wide across the body, and 1544mm high, 45mm lower than its SUV stablemate. It has a wheelbase of 2961mm, and it rides on 23-inch front and 24-inch rear wheels – the largest ever fitted to a Ferrari.
Ferrari Luce Interior design
Like the Purosangue, the Luce also gets rear-hinged suicide doors, leading into Ferrari’s first-ever five-seat interior. We have seen individual elements of this retro-themed interior before, and while it did divide opinion originally, it does seem to have come together rather well. It’s decidedly analogue, simple and a refreshing break from the tyranny of dashboard-spanning screens that plague modern cars.
It is also on the inside that Jony Ive’s Apple aesthetics are most apparent, particularly through the use of anodised aluminium and strengthened glass from specialist firm Corning – two key components of Apple’s products.
Some of the highlights include the thin-rimmed, three-spoke steering wheel inspired by the wooden steering wheels from Ferraris of the 1950-'60s. It features two control pods with several physical buttons for operating the indicators, wipers, cruise control and bumpy road setting, apart from the usual Manettino switch finished in red. There’s also a knob to control the powertrain setting, which can toggle between Range, Tour and Performance modes.
Looking through the steering wheel, one will see the 12.5-inch digital instrument cluster comprising three classic looking dials housed within a black casing. However, the entire binnacle is actually an OLED screen made up of eight different layers. The first two layers are separate Samsung OLED screens that make up the three-dial view, while the black plastic-like surround displays warning lights, turn-by-turn navigation and the shifting aid that is normally found at the top of modern Ferrari steering wheels.
Ferrari’s approach with the central infotainment screen is also quite interesting – instead of being integrated in the dashboard, the iPad-like 10-inch unit is mounted on a ball-and-socket joint so that it can be moved freely by a chunky grab handle for both the driver’s and passenger’s use. At the bottom, there are toggle switches to control media and climate, while at the top sits a clock with physical dials and a digital face that can also become a compass or a lap timer.
Then there’s a floating centre console made up of a mix of leather and glass, and houses a small glass drive selector. The big highlight here is a dedicated recess for the key, which needs to be pushed into place for the car to start. Once it clicks into its place, the key’s yellow colour changes to black and the yellow is transferred to the drive selector.
Lastly, the flat floor and lack of a transmission tunnel have allowed for a proper five-seat layout with 40/20/40 split rear seats and a 597-litre boot – the largest yet in a Ferrari. The seats themselves, with a ribbed design that’s also mimicked on the door pads, seem focused at comfort rather than sportiness.
Ferrari Luce powertrain, battery and specs
And finally, coming to the heart of the matter. Underpinning Ferrari’s first EV is a born electric skateboard platform with four electric motors (one on each wheel) producing a maximum output of 1050hp and 990Nm. The power distribution is heavily rear-biased, where the rear electric motors can alone produce 843hp, while front motors can be fully disengaged.
There are three power levels: Range Mode (430hp), Tour Mode (617hp), and Performace Mode (986hp), while launch control, that’s activated by pulling down on a grip that's located above the driver's head, unleashes the full 1050hp. 0-100kph, as a result, takes a claimed 2.5 seconds and it will go on to do a top-speed of 310kph. The radial flow, permanent magnet synchronous motors are a derivative of the type used in the hybrid drivetrains of Ferrari’s GT racers and the F80 hypercar.
The quad motor setup naturally allows for active torque vectoring, there’s four-wheel steering, and the chunky paddle shifters behind the steering wheel help adjust regenerative braking and torque output, both offering five levels each. The paddle shift operations are not to mimic gearshifts, but to manage the amount of power available on full-throttle.
The battery, weighing 630kg, is designed and built in Maranello and integrated into the car’s floorpan. It has a total capacity of 122kWh at 800V and is estimated to return about 530km on a single charge (pending homologation). The Luce is also quite portly, weighing 2260kg, although its centre of gravity is 95mm lower than a Purosangue’s and it has a 47:53 front and rear weight distribution.
Ferrari’s Chief Product Development Officer Gianmaria Fulgenzi said the Luce will be “the most comfortable Ferrari ever produced”. Suspension is by double wishbones at the front and rear, and employs an evolution of the 48V Multimatic TrueActive spool valve dampers first used on the Purosangue, which negate the need for conventional anti-roll bars. And finally, there’s the sound. Yes it does produce an ‘authentic’ sound in Performance mode using accelerometers that capture and amplify vibrations of rotating components – it doesn’t mimic an engine sound like the new AMG GT 4-door, but a sound that’s inherent to its electric architecture.