Ferrari is on the precipice of globally debuting its first-ever all-electric offering, the Luce, and in India, the hallowed Italian marque has made two new models available this year: the 849 Testarossa and Amalfi. For the 849 Testarossa, Ferrari even held its very first dedicated premiere event in India, signalling a stronger focus for our market. At this event, we sat down with Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna to discuss the importance of the Indian market to the brand, future plans, and the philosophy behind the Luce EV.
How important is the Indian market to Ferrari, especially given that it is small in size compared to your global markets?
It’s true the market today is small, but this market offers many opportunities because this is a country of many young people. There is a lot of passion for our brand, there’s a lot of passion for innovation, and basically it matches our belief. At Ferrari, we say, ‘we audaciously redefine the limits of what’s possible’, and you have a beautiful saying here too that matches that, which is ‘Hoga Kaise Nahi’.
So yes, the market has potential. There are many sectors here that are growing – IT, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals. The wealth is growing, and I sense that. While it will take time, we have all the ingredients for growth, and it makes a lot of sense for us to invest.
With the FTA looming on the horizon, will customers want to wait and see if prices drop?
I think what is important is that you must be fast when things change around you. The final decision on the FTA has not yet been taken, but what I can guarantee you is that, as was the case with the tariffs a year ago, we were very quick and fast to decide how to approach the market, and we will do the same here.
We are preparing a new commercial policy, which will define this period, as we want to obviously avoid this ‘wait and see’ behaviour. The new commercial policy will also take into account this factor, which I can’t say now, but in a few weeks, you will see.
You now have ICE, hybrid and EV, so what’s your sense on the powertrain future, especially with others worried about EVs?
I am not worried, for sure. I fully respect the views of our competitors, as I am sure they respect ours. You see, we are coming from different points of view, different scales and different experiences. We are unique because we are only doing sports cars. We have the flexibility of avoiding having to work on the concept of platforms, which sets boundary conditions for an EV.
You will see a lot of innovations – we have more than 100 patents for the car, right from how the driver interacts with the dashboard to materials and the dynamics of the car. So, you see, for us, the Ferrari Luce is ‘also electric’, it’s not just electric.
What do you think are the few secret ingredients to making an electric supercar, because so far it seems like it hasn’t really worked?
It is clear to us that there are five generators of ‘driving thrill’. One is longitudinal acceleration – everyone has this, but sometimes it’s too much and disturbs people. We have worked with medical centres and NASA to understand at what level and where it disturbs and gets unpleasant. Then there’s transversal acceleration – when your eyes see you turning a corner, your body feels that you are drifting away. Managing weight and its movement is key to ‘thrill’ here.
The third is braking, and here, if there’s less weight, the better it is, and you have to manage the regeneration braking well too. The fourth is the gearshift, and I can’t say more now, but our paddle shifts are not meant for brake regeneration, but for a real torque shift. The last is the sound, and motors have high-frequency sounds, which are not nice. But there are low-frequency sounds, and there are ways to pick this up in a natural manner and make it sound good. We have spent a lot of time to tune all these five elements.
How important is range? Because driven hard, an electric supercar will struggle to complete a few track laps.
Yes, that’s a good point. First, though, the Luce is not meant to be on a track. Because today, there is still a problem to make an electric supercar that can do a lot of kilometres on a track. We have positioned the Luce differently. In terms of driving range, though, it will be more than 500km, and if you drive it quick, it will drop for sure. But if it’s 300km, it’s still good. And of course, the system can go up to 800V and is capable of fast charging.
Coming to the design and interiors of the Luce, was it very intentional to go retro to bring in some feel?
It’s bizarre today because people think that if you make an electric car, it has to have many screens. If this electric technology had evolved in the very early past, like 50 or 60 years ago, would you have had screens then? No, it would have been analogue. And at Ferrari, we always bring together tradition and innovation, and that is what we are doing with the Luce.
Lastly, I have to ask about your connection to India. You have come here multiple times, as Ferrari CEO and before?
Yes, I have come to India many, many times. The first time was about 25 years ago. I keep coming back because I love the food, culture, the colour, sounds and the energy of India and its people. I have a lot of friends here, and now a lot of clients too. You know, I was at IIT, and it was lovely to meet the students. I went to Varanasi, and wow, it’s such an amazing place. It helped me understand so much about India. And of course, I really love how Indians approach life.
