Ferrari Luce: the brand's first electric vehicle arrives with 1,050 hp, 530 km range, and Jony Ive's signature on the design

On May 25th, Ferrari unveiled the Luce in Rome, its first 100% electric car in 78 years of history. The presentation took place at the Calatrava Vela, within the Città dello Sport, and showcased a Ferrari like never before: a four-door, five-seater sedan with 1,050 hp distributed in four motors, a 530 km range, a 122 kWh battery, and 800V architecture. The exterior, interior, and interface design were entrusted to LoveFrom, the studio by Jony Ive and Marc Newson. Prices start at €550,000, and the 2027 production is already sold out through reservations.

 

What is the Ferrari Luce: Maranello's first EV

Maranello took almost eight decades to truly electrify. There were hybrids (SF90, 296), but no catalog Ferrari had gone without a combustion engine until now. The Luce is not a special series or limited edition: it is a lineup model, set to coexist with current V8 and V12 models with continuous production from 2027. It is also the first four-door Ferrari, the first with five true seats, measuring five meters and featuring a trunk of 600 liters: specs closer to a Porsche Taycan or Lucid Air than a classic GT.

Ferrari's CEO Benedetto Vigna presented it as proof that a company demonstrates leadership by embracing technological challenges: the Luce is the result of over 60 new patents. Chairman John Elkann defined the launch as the opening of a chapter that transforms a vision into reality.

 

Exterior Design: The LoveFrom Language

For the first time in Ferrari's history, the exterior design of a road car was not led by the Centro Stile headed by Flavio Manzoni. Maranello delegated it to LoveFrom, the creative collective founded by Ive and Newson in San Francisco.

The result is the car’s most polarizing feature. The silhouette is a fastback with a descending roofline that slopes to a short tail. The most distinctive element is the "glasshouse": a continuous panoramic glass covering from the windshield to the rear window, across the roof, with no visible interruptions. The body uses no steel, being entirely aluminum (much of it recycled). At the front, a thin horizontal LED bar serves as headlights; at the rear, two double circular halos function as tail lights, a deliberate nod to the Testarossa and the F40. Ferrari claims it has the lowest drag coefficient of any street car from the brand.

An engineering detail noted by few sites is the modular architecture. Front axle, battery pack, and rear axle are independently removable. For a €550,000 electric car, it's not an aesthetic whim, but real maintainability: a collision affecting one axle does not necessitate dismantling the rest, and a battery replacement during the car's lifecycle becomes a contained procedure.

The color palette also breaks norms: besides the obligatory Rosso Corsa, Ferrari also showcased the Luce in a rarely seen bi-tone light blue (the chosen color for official outdoor renders). This choice is deliberate: the Luce is not intended to be perceived as a classic Ferrari from the street.

 

Interior: Glass, recycled aluminum, and physical buttons

If the exterior divides opinions, the interior is where LoveFrom's signature is most recognizable. The cabin explicitly rejects the convention imposed by Tesla and replicated by Mercedes EQS, Lucid Air, and all premium EVs: the giant touchscreen replacing almost all physical controls. The Luce does exactly the opposite.

The palette: recycled anodized aluminum, Corning Gorilla Glass, leather. Precision machined aluminum, hardened Gorilla Glass, and OLED screens from Samsung Display: the recipe mirrors a premium Apple product, making sense because the hand behind it is the same one that defined the feeling of an iPhone for twenty years.

There are four tailored Samsung OLED screens: 12.9", 12", 10.1", and 6.3". The driver's cluster combines two overlapping OLED panels with physical mechanical needles sandwiched between the glasses: the needles are real, driven by motors, moving over digital drawings that change based on the driving mode.

Another functional nod to space: there's no transmission tunnel. The floor is flat because there is no gearbox or longitudinal axle, allowing the fifth passenger to comfortably occupy the middle rear seat. In a Ferrari, that is historic. The audio system is called Ferrari Audio Signature: 21 speakers, 24 channels, 3,000 W amplification.

 

Steering Wheel, Multigraph, and Jony Ive's Signature

The steering wheel is a three-spoke design, flat-bottomed, without the button-cluttered cluster found in SF90 or 296. There's a red manettino to the right with classic positions (Ice, Wet, Dry, Sport, ESC Off) and a left selector for power mode (Range, Tour, Perfo). The center features the prancing horse on a yellow background, nothing more.

The cabin's most talked-about detail is the paddles behind the wheel. In a combustion Ferrari, they control gearbox shifts. In the Luce, there's no gearbox: Ferrari renamed them Torque Shift Engagement. The right paddle controls five power delivery levels, the left five levels of regenerative braking. Entering a corner, the driver modulates with the left how much negative torque is applied; exiting, with the right, calibrates how much power is unleashed. This isn't simulated gear shifts (Porsche and Hyundai have done that): it's dynamic control impossible in a combustion vehicle.

In the central console, there's a panel Ferrari calls a "multigraph": an OLED display surrounded by an anodized aluminum analog needle that changes function according to context (clock, timer, compass, or launch control). The needle is real, motor-driven; the graphics behind it change. It's one of Newson's most characteristic design gestures, stemming from watchmaking.

The Luce key deserves special mention. It's made of Corning Gorilla Glass, with a bistable E Ink display. When the driver inserts it into its dock, the display switches from yellow to black, the gear selector lights up, and a lighting choreography begins throughout the cabin. It's precisely the kind of ceremonial detail Ive advocated for throughout his career. The final gesture, in harmony: a physical lever on the roof to activate Launch mode.

 

Powertrain: 4 Motors, 800V, and Structural Battery

The Luce is equipped with four synchronous permanent magnet radial flux motors, derived from the F80. One per wheel: the rear motors spin at 25,500 rpm with 620 kW combined; the fronts reach 30,000 rpm with 210 kW combined. Total: 1,050 hp (772 kW) and 990 Nm torque.

Each motor is individually controlled via a Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) updating torque targets per wheel 200 times per second. Combined with the active suspension derived from the F80 and the independently steerable rear axle, the Luce injects or withdraws power wheel-by-wheel in real time: a level of control impossible in a combustion vehicle.

The battery has a nominal capacity of 122 kWh, with 210 cells in series, NMC chemistry, co-developed with SK On and assembled in Maranello. It operates at 800V (alongside Porsche Taycan and Lucid Air) and supports fast charging up to 350 kW: recovering about 70 kWh in 20 minutes, equivalent to 10-80% during a coffee break.

The most interesting fact isn't the capacity: it's the integration. The pack acts as a structural element of the chassis, contributing 20% flexural rigidity and 40% torsional rigidity; the body-in-white and battery combined weigh 10% less than the category average, according to Ferrari. The center of gravity is 95 mm lower than the Purosangue: the brand claims the dynamic behavior equates to driving a car 400 kg lighter. The claim is from the manufacturer (the press will verify), but the low center of gravity is objective and will be noticeable.

The tires are Michelin Pilot Sport S energy. Ferrari mentions over 60 new patents and 120,000 hours of R&D dedicated to the electric powertrain. Package stats: 0-100 km/h in 2.5 seconds, 0-200 in 6.8, a top speed over 310 km/h (electronically limited), a range greater than 530 km equivalent to the WLTP cycle, curb weight 2,260 kg with 47:53 distribution.

 

Sound: The Accelerometer Replacing the V12

The entire industry, from Porsche to BMW, addressed the lack of combustion engine by synthesizing fake sound through speakers. Ferrari rejects this approach. The Luce features a precision accelerometer mounted at the rear axle's center, capturing real vibrations from motors, gears, and rotating components. The raw signal is filtered, equalized, and amplified before being sent to its 21 internal speakers and external speakers. Ferrari compares it to an electric guitar amplifier: the string truly vibrates, the amplifier makes it audible, yet the sound originates from real physical movement. There are five presets from the e-Manettino and it can be silenced. It's not a simulated V12: it's an acoustic signature derived from Luce's own physics, arguably one of the most coherent approaches a manufacturer has taken to sound in a performance EV.

 

Price, Availability, and Maranello's Bet

The Luce starts at €550,000 (about $640,000 USD at current exchange rates). Reservations opened on the day of launch, and according to Ferrari, the production allocated for 2027 is already sold out. It's not a limited edition: it coexists with the current V8 and V12 models and is manufactured continuously. Ferrari maintains its goal of achieving 20% electric production by 2030, a revised figure from an earlier, more ambitious target. The Luce isn't targeting the traditional Maranello client: it's reaching out to new buyers, likely a first-time Ferrari customer, likely in markets like China where luxury EVs enjoy more cultural acceptance.

The financial market's reception on the announcement day was lukewarm: Ferrari shares fell up to 8% during the Milan stock session before moderating losses to around 6%, signaling investors did not view the launch as an undeniable success. This perception, combined with the design conversation generated on social media since the curtain was lifted, warrants separate analysis.

 

Conclusion: A Ferrari Breaking Its Own Rules

The Luce is not aimed at being a Ferrari for the traditional Ferrari enthusiast, and that seems deliberate. What defines it is not the raw data of 1,050 hp or 530 km range (Lucid Air and Porsche Taycan are in that zone). What's defining is the design choices: rejecting the dominant touchscreen, maintaining physical needles and mechanical buttons, capturing real motor sounds instead of synthesizing them, and delegating aesthetic direction to an external studio for the first time.

This gamble by LoveFrom will determine whether the Luce ages well. Cars designed around massive touchscreens start to look outdated when the screen falls two generations behind; cars with physical interfaces and noble materials tend to weather better. The open question isn't whether the Luce functions technically — the 60 patents and F80 heritage suggest engineering is covered —. The question is whether the new client Ferrari seeks pays Maranello's premium for a car that doesn’t resemble any previous Ferrari, and whether the traditional customer accepts the V12 coexisting with a five-seat electric sedan in the same catalog.