After a long wait, and in a rapidly changing electric vehicle climate, the Ferrari Luce has debuted as the company’s first electric vehicle. It’s the first Ferrari to employ a radically new look and new technology, not just under the skin, but in places a driver could see.
The Luce’s exterior was developed with former Apple designer Jony Ive and Marc Newson’s LoveForm creative collective, and while there’s a clear attempt to tie it to traditional Ferrari design, it’s a different kind of Ferrari. As a four-door, five-seat vehicle, it’s also different from anything the company has made before, including its Thoroughbred SUV whose appearance tries harder to fit in with other Ferraris. There are some curves in the fenders reminiscent of what Ferrari has been doing since the turn of the century, but also a gentle, almost Apple Magic MouseIt looks worked.
And in a twist on Ferrari’s four round taillight theme, the Luce only appear when the car is on. Otherwise, there is only a black panel. Maybe it depends on the color, but it looks a little strange in the Azzurro La Plata (Blue-Silver) that Ferrari uses in some photos.
Retractable door handles hide the fact that this is a four-door vehicle, with the rear doors hinged back like those of the Purosangue. In fact, although the look is very different, the Luce takes up about the same space as that SUV, even though it appears stockier thanks to a relatively short front end. Either you like it or you don’t.
In February we take a look at the interior of the lightalso made with LoveForm. That means there are more screens than is typical in a Ferrari, with two OLED screens developed by Samsung, including the central touchscreen infotainment system that can rotate closer to the driver. There’s a lot of aluminum and glass, and while it looks like there are physical, traditional Ferrari gauges, so to speak, behind the wheel, they’re digital.
However, Ferrari’s first electric vehicle hasn’t focused entirely on screens or capacitive touch controls like Tesla, Lucid and even volvo and bmw they have in their recently launched electric. The gear selector is glass and physical, and there are levers for various functions, plus four window switches and the drive selector switches on the steering wheel, just like other recent products from the company.
Performance should be less controversial with four electric motors generating a total of 1,035 horsepower, with the two rear motors capable of generating up to 831 horsepower each, giving the Luce a traditional rear-biased tilt. The automaker claims 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) acceleration in 2.5 seconds and a top speed of 193 mph.
The Luce uses an 800-volt electrical architecture and a 122 kWh battery capable of charging up to 350 kW, which sounds like specs for something like a Porsche Taycan or Kia EV9. The EPA hasn’t rated it for range, and it’s unclear whether U.S. models will run on Tesla’s Supercharger network, but Car and driver reports that Ferrari estimates a maximum range of 280 miles.
While the supercar brand Lamborghini backed off its electric vehicle goals Earlier this year, amid an uncertain market for all-electric supercars (and the Volkswagen Group’s parent company’s rather precarious financial situation), Ferrari has persisted. Already in 2022, Ferrari said electric vehicles would make up 40% of its model lineup and later said there would be three models, according to Reuters.
However, the automaker said in 2025 that a second electric vehicle would be delayed until at least 2028, and Ferrari also delayed the Luce from a 2025 launch date, saying electric vehicles would comprise 20% of its model lineup, with 40% going to hybrid and gasoline models each. The first Lights will be delivered this fall, although the first American models are not expected until spring 2027.
The electric supercar market is a small fraction of even the small supercar market. Despite recent claims that the second-generation Tesla Roadster was still in production after it was revealed as a prototype and deposits were made in November 2017, it’s clearly an afterthought for the company and its CEO. Tesla also recently killed their Model S and X cars and thus the crazy Plaid lineup.
Porsche has been marketing the 1,000-plus horsepower Taycan Turbo GT since 2024, but it’s also a sedan, and that company has moved away from going all-electric now that there are expected to be gasoline versions of the previously electric-only 718 sports car and more Macan and Cayenne SUVs. Mercedes-Benz recently presented its new electric AMG GT 4 doors with up to 1,153 horsepower, but it’s much more of a car than the intermediate Luce. This leaves the Ferrari Luce in a very small class.
And it’s even more interesting that if Ferrari hadn’t been spun off from the former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2016, it might have ended up as part of the American-French-Italian giant Stellantis, which, under new management, has made a big effort to add more hybrid and gasoline vehicles and leave behind full electric vehicles. In a sense, it’s a miracle that the Luce is electric, regardless of what you think of it and what it represents for Ferrari.
