May Luce be: the electric Ferrari is finally here

We have been I’ve been waiting for the Ferrari Luce for eight years.

It was January 2018 when, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the former Ferrari Chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne first alluded to a ‘prancing horse’ VE compete with Tesla.

“If there is an electric supercar to be built, then Ferrari will be first. » Marchionne said. “People are amazed at what Tesla did with a supercar: I’m not trying to downplay what Tesla did with a supercar. ElonI did it, but I think it is achievable by all of us.

Well, Ferrari wasn’t the first. But it certainly won the prize for most anticipated electric vehicle launch ever, with the drip-feed strategy of a first Elettrica model “nickname” and then last October’s. powertrain revealthen, in February, the Apple-esque Interior designed by LoveFrom directed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson.

Today’s reveal from outside Rome by Ferrari ends the secrecy and completes the process. This is the Luce (meaning “light” in Italian), the most important thing Maranello has done in decades.

The figures are suitably high-end. Four motors, one per wheel, have a combined output of over 1,000 horsepower in Boost mode. The rear axle develops 832 hp and 7,750 Nm to the wheels. The front axle adds 282 hp and 3,400 Nm. Full power is available in less than a second. 0 to 62 mph is handled in 2.5 seconds, then the top speed is 192 mph. It’s actually a hypercar disguised as a GT with five seats (a first for Ferrari).

The 122 kWh battery, one of the largest in any production electric vehicle, charges up to 350 kW on an 800-volt system. Ferrari claims this battery gives the Luce a range of more than 329 miles per charge. The all-wheel drive and steering are inspired by the Purosangue SUV. Ferrari has confirmed a curb weight of 4,982 pounds, or 2,260 kg, which is only about 200 pounds heavier than the Purosangue, despite that excellent battery.

For handling, each wheel has its own independently controlled power, braking, suspension and steering (the rear wheels can be steered up to 2.15 degrees.) And rather than synthesizing a false engine note, Ferrari installed an accelerometer on the rear axle that works like a guitar pickup, detecting engine vibrations, filtering out unwanted whines and transmitting the resulting sound into the cabin. Ferrari’s head of sound quality, Antonio Palermo, went so far as to call the system an “instrument.”

Perhaps Ferrari’s most notable – and controversial – decision was that instead of running the project entirely in-house, it brought in outside help. The company tapped LoveFrom, the agency founded by Jony Ive in 2019 after his departure from Apple, to aesthetically design Ferrari’s first electric vehicle, tasking Ive’s team with working closely with Maranello engineers.

The impact of this bold decision on the appearance of Ferrari’s first electric vehicle became evident at the interior launch in San Francisco in February. Key members of the team that shaped the iPhone, iMac, and Apple Watch over nearly three decades at Apple have created a cabin with an aesthetic we’d expect to see from the Cupertino company. car project canceled. Brushed aluminum, glass, leather; rounded corners; A flying it is truly a thing of beauty; physical equipment; circular OLED displays; a central screen mounted on a ball joint to be able to pivot towards the front passenger; a Corning glass shift knob with 13,000 laser-etched holes; a keychain that looks like a miniature iPhone.

But while we’ve known for a while that LoveFrom took over the interior, it was recently confirmed that Ive, Newson and the rest of the team sculpted the Luce’s exterior as well, which explains why it doesn’t look like any other Ferrari that came before it.

Ferrari says the Luce’s exterior styling is defined by “the glass house, an uncompromising shell-like form” that extends below the electric vehicle’s beltline to the ends of the car. The windshield seemingly extends all the way to the nose of the Luce, giving the car additional aerodynamics as well as a wide line not seen in any Ferrari before it. Ferrari claims the Luce has achieved the goal of achieving “by far the lowest drag coefficient in Maranello road car history.”

To achieve this uninterrupted slide of the glass towards the front of the vehicle, LoveFrom decided to place the large wipers not at the bottom of the windshield but on either side of the A-pillars. Perhaps to give more aggressiveness to the aesthetic, the Luce has the largest offset wheel diameters on a production Ferrari road car: 23 inches at the front and 24 at the rear.

The front and rear light panels are transparent and form part of the main surfaces, while the halo-shaped rear lights celebrate the 360 ​​Modena and 458 Italia. Suicide rear doors complete an exterior that looks in photos at least like a pleasant hybrid of Tesla, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari genetics.

Ferrari said in a statement that the introduction of a team from outside its Ferrari Design Studio led by Flavio Manzoni brought a new perspective, enabling a new design language. The automaker insists that LoveFrom was given “the creative freedom to define the design direction of the project from the outset, translating this design language into an authentic Ferrari experience.”

It will be interesting to see whether Luce’s look appeals to the Ferrari faithful or repels them. I have described the Luce as “still clearly a Ferrari”, but added that it represents “a different manifestation based on certain beliefs around simplicity”.

Ferrari’s Luce also arrives at a time when its rivals are faltering. Lamborghini has pushed back its first electric vehicle to 2029. Bentley has pushed back its all-electric deadline from 2030 to 2035. Porsche has, at great cost, redefined its immediate future toward combustion. Ferrari continues with the Luce, yes, but that’s probably because it was too late to cancel. In June 2025, Ferrari announced that it delay your second EV until 2028, citing low demand for luxury electric cars.

Keen not to alienate its core customer base, Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna was careful to point out that the Luce – with production expected to begin in late 2026, deliveries in early 2027 and prices starting at around $640,000 – is a addition to alignment, not to a pivot. The company 2030 goal calls for only 20 percent of sales to be fully electric, with 40 percent hybrids and 40 percent combustion. Yet in October last year, Ferrari shares fell more than 16 percent amid disappointment with the brand’s long-term financial goals.

Vigna, Ive and all of Ferrari will go through everything to ensure the Luce receives a reception from buyers that matches the anticipation for the electric vehicle before the reveal. Behind the pomp of Luce’s launch are many nervous auto industry executives.