Ferrari unveiled the Luce — its first fully electric, four-door, five-seat car — on May 25 at a €550,000 (~$640,000) starting price, and Ferrari NV shares fell nearly 8% in Milan trading as the design, led by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, drew open criticism from investors, former Ferrari leadership, and an online enthusiast base that compared the car to a Honda Accord, an Apple Store minivan, and a luxury toaster.
The design choice that triggered the sell-off
For the Luce, Ferrari moved away from the visual language of longtime design chief Flavio Manzoni and turned the project over to Jony Ive's post-Apple studio. The resulting car — a four-door sedan-coupe with a soft, sealed silhouette and an interior built around consumer-electronics finishes — drew the specific criticism that the design is "overly modern, softened, and influenced by consumer tech aesthetics rather than motorsport heritage." Former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo said the design "risks undermining the emotional identity that has defined the brand for decades." Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini also weighed in. Ferrari CCO Enrico Galliera, in the launch announcement, framed the break as deliberate: "We want to bring something that we consider as a game changer, really talk in a different language."
The specs aren't the problem
The Luce, by every published number, is a Ferrari. Over 1,000 horsepower, 0–100 km/h in roughly 2.5 seconds, top speed north of 310 km/h (193 mph), a Torque Shift Engagement system mapped to the steering-wheel paddles to simulate gear changes on an electric drivetrain. The backlash is not on the spec sheet. It is on the front end of the car and the press images of the cabin — a refusal of the prancing-horse visual code that customers and collectors have spent 80 years pattern-matching to.
The Lamborghini contrast
Within 24 hours of the Luce reveal, Lamborghini's CEO told CNBC that the brand's decision to cancel its own pure-EV program was the right call — pointed timing for a competitor's announcement, and a signal that Sant'Agata Bolognese intends to ride the V12 cycle as long as the regulatory calendar allows. The two Italian flagships have now formally diverged on electrification, and the market reaction this week reads as an early scorecard.
Why a luxury brand can't outsource its face
Ferrari is the highest-margin auto brand in the world. The reason isn't engineering — Porsche, McLaren, and the Mercedes-AMG line all sit close on hardware. The reason is that the visual identity has been compounded for eight decades into one of the most recognizable consumer codes on the planet, and that identity carries the pricing power. Hiring Jony Ive — a designer celebrated for making consumer electronics feel emotional — is a logical move on paper. It is also exactly the swap that the customer base reacts to the way it has reacted. The same question is now hanging over other luxury brands stepping out of their native visual contexts — whether the equity travels, or whether it lives only where it was built.
Ferrari has not announced a pricing or design walkback. Deliveries of the Luce begin in 2027.
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