Actually, I Think the Ferrari Luce Looks AwesomeFerrari (Ferrari)Hating the new Ferrari Luce has united the automotive world. And the automotive world is wrong.The Luce is both groundbreaking and firmly in the tradition of the best Ferraris from the past. It’s not only Ferrari’s first all-electric car, but the first true four-door. It’s not a cheesy cheat that swipes parts from lesser brands, nor is it a half-ass effort that “electrifies” an existing Ferrari. Like the greatest Ferraris, it’s a form-follows-function machine. And it’s not a stupid riff on what an exotic car should look like. It’s an honest effort to build a great electric Ferrari and should be admired as such.Admired. Even if the idea of an electric Ferrari is repellent to you.AdvertisementAdvertisementFirst, let’s admit that the Luce exists to fulfill government mandates. It’s unlikely many decision makers within Ferrari have a passion for electrics, but until this past December, the European Union (EU) was mandating a net-zero carbon emission from new vehicles in 2035. That’s been tweaked to a 90-percent reduction by the same date, but there’s simply no way to even come close to that goal without producing battery-fed electric vehicles. That’s why the Luce exists. It’s also why the new Mercedes-AMG GT EV exists. And it’s why there’s a Porsche Taycan and Jaguar has bet its existence on an all-zap future and on and on and on. Ferrari had no choice: it had to build an all-electric, battery slurping car.The Pininfarina Battista pretends to be a mid-engine exotic. But it’s an electric. Does anyone care about it?Automobili Pininfarina (Automobili Pininfarina)The easy play for Ferrari would have been creating an electric that mimicked mid-engine exotics. Automobili Pininfarina did that with its $2.4 million, 1877-hp Battista, and the market has been indifferent to it. “The Battista has the familiar form of a mid-engine supercar,” I wrote back in December 2021. “That, however, is a comforting sop to convention. An electric motor drives each wheel, and a massive T-shaped battery pack fills most of the nooks and crannies. If form strictly followed function, it might not look like this at all.”Ferrari has allowed the Luce’s form to follow its function. Accommodating a big battery pack under the floor meant a long (116.6-inch) wheelbase and a tall cabin. That’s the logical and most efficient way to package an electric vehicle. Squeezing that under some swoopy mid-engine form would have been awkward and, likely, not-that-pretty. So instead, Ferrari gave the car a large, sedan-ish cabin with seating for five. Making the car shorter would have meant compromising battery size, reducing range without much in the way of compensating virtues.The Luce’s proportions are native electric, just as the great Ferraris of the past came by their proportions because of their engineering. Ferrari’s big front-engine GTs have long hoods because they have to cover long V-12 engines. The beloved 308 GTB from the 1970s was tightly drawn around a short wheelbase enabled by its transverse-mounted V-8. When the 288 GTO was developed using the 308 as a starting point, the wheelbase was stretched to accommodate the twin-turbo V-8 sitting longitudinally within it. Ferrari’s race cars have always looked the way they look so they could win races—whether that’s the burly, flat-12 powered 312T models Niki Lauda drove or the slender fuselages of the V-10 missiles of the Michael Schumacher era. The beauty of Ferraris has never been an affectation but a reflection of the engineering that made them great.The Rolls-Royce Spectre is an electric that apes Rollers of the past.John Pearley Huffman (John Pearley Huffman)The short nose of the Luce stands in stark distinction to electrics like the Rolls-Royce Spectre. “As it is,” I wrote in July 2023 about the Spectre’s long schnoz, “it seems like a lot of hood to cover up almost nothing. In a way, it means the entire front third of the Spectre is decorative.” In contrast, the Luce’s drop-away nose is sculpted around the mechanical substance of the car. Rolls-Royce is, properly, conservative and wanted the Spectre to look like a Rolls-Royce. Ultimately, the Spectre is a parody of a Rolls-Royce. Ferrari went the other way and designed an electric performance car with authentic proportions. Because that authenticity has always been what made great Ferraris great.Under the Spectre’s hood is... a big aluminum cover over some hoses and wires.John Pearley Huffman (John Pearley Huffman)Styling is always subjective, but I’m appreciative that Ferrari is pushing the boundaries of what a Ferrari can look like. The Luce is not a poorly proportioned contraption like the Mondial or odd duck like the Dino 308 GT4. There’s a holistic integrity to how the Luce is detailed and decorated; it looks like a 21st-century car and not an uneasy tribute to Ferrari’s past. Ferrari is taking chances with the Luce’s appearance, and that’s a lot better than playing it safe.The Luce interior keeps many of the best elements of previous Ferraris, but reimagines those in an elegant and modern way.Ferrari (Ferrari)AdvertisementAdvertisementThen there’s the Luce’s interior. I can’t escape the Apple Computer comparison because of Jony Ive’s participation in the design, but look more closely at the details. The modules that present information to the driver have some real gauges embedded in them. The center screen can swivel and turn to present itself efficiently to the driver or the shotgun passenger. The steering wheel has a classic Ferrari form, the vents are round as vents should be, and the upholstery is classically crafted with a precise, pleated presentation.Okay, the Luce is an organic expression of an electric vehicle. The ultimate question is how it performs, and there is reason to be excited.First, Ferrari hasn’t subcontracted the four motors to some vendor churning out generic whirlymajigs. The four motors are Ferrari designs, related somehow to the hybrid F80’s unit, and run on an 800-volt architecture. With a total system output of 1035-hp and a claimed curb weight of 4982 lbs (light for an electric), it promises to be among the very quickest Ferraris yet made. But quick is a trick already mastered by lesser electrics.The delicious thing to contemplate is how Ferrari will tune the four motors to provide a great driving experience. It probably won’t be like previous Ferraris, and that’s okay. Ferrari isn’t bound to any “Ferrari-ness” when it comes to driving. It simply needs to be exceptional, thrilling, and fun. And four individual motors—one driving each wheel— promise a level of tuning beyond any previous Ferrari. Not to mention, the folks in Maranello run alongside Porsche as the greatest product tuners on Earth.AdvertisementAdvertisementI’m not in love with the Luce. And I’m not sure there’s much of a market for high-performance electric vehicles, no matter what their pedigree. And pedigree will not be enough to justify the Luce’s $640,000. But I'm optimistic. This thing has to be good. Damned good.Okay, I don’t like these wheels.Ferrari (Ferrari)The pile-on conventional wisdom that’s been overwhelming the interwebs after the Luce’s debut is insane. This is an electric that looks like the electric it is; a considered design that acknowledges the reality of electric vehicle construction and doesn’t simply play into nostalgia for a storied brand. Not playing into nostalgia is, in fact, the best Ferrari tradition of them all.I can’t wait to drive the Luce. It looks awesome.You Might Also LikeIf You Can Only Own One Car, Make It One of TheseThese Are the Most Popular Cars by State
