'Luxury toaster': Ferrari electric roasted by fans, shun by investors
27.05.2026, DPA
Photo: Ferrari/PA Wire/dpa
It might be the first of its kind, a striking head-turner and a high-performing electric supercar, but none of that has stopped it from getting a resounding thumbs down from many fans and investors alike.
On Tuesday Ferrari unveiled the Luce, a five-door hatchback with four electric motors and a total output of over 1,000 horsepower ahead of a sales launch later this year.
However, images of the sleek, muscular car triggered exclamations of dismay from many enthusiasts of the Italian luxury manufacturer. It was meanwhile met with anything but enthusiasm on the stock markets.
The model dumps many of the traditional features associated with Ferrari and opts for a futuristic aesthetic, with lines that many users compared to luxury Chinese vehicles.
Fans were particularly upset by the visual design, which is a departure for Ferrari. The shape of the Luce (or "light") comes from studio LoveFrom, headed by Britain's Jony Ive, the famed design specialist who worked on the development of the iPhone.
Ferrari has used design houses such as Pininfarina, Bertone and Zagato before, but it said working with LoveFrom has helped it think radically.
The response of former Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo was unequivocal: "If I said what I think, it would harm Ferrari... They are destroying a myth, I’m very sorry. I hope they remove the prancing horse from the car," he said on X.
In another comment on the social media platform, a former Italian Minister for Industry described the Luce as an "aesthetic and technological insult" to all Ferrari fans.
Other commenters likened the Luce to an Apple Store minivan or a Honda Accord, while memes spread on social media depicting the car as a luxury toaster.
"It looks like a child's remote-controlled car you'd buy for $10 from an Aliexpress-ass market stall," wrote news website Aftermath.
According to Ferrari, the car is very much in the tradition of its high-speed road-burners with a top speed of over 310 km/h and a 100 km/h sprint time of 2.5 seconds. The power for all this comes from a 122-kilowatt-hour battery with a range of 530 kilometres. The price is a hefty €550,000.
In terms of sound, the low-noise electric Luce is a departure from the powerful vroom of the V8 and V12 combustion engines in most Ferraris, however.
For the presentation, the company chose an exclusive location: the Vela di Calatrava, a sail-shaped structure by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava in Rome. Ferrari invited over 200 journalists from around the world to the unveiling, followed by several gala dinners.
Ferrari said it aims to open a new chapter with the Luce. Originally, the plan was for 40% of new Ferraris to be electric by 2030; now the figure is just 20%.
Competitors such as Porsche and Lamborghini have meanwhile scaled back their electric ambitions owing to weak demand and image problems.
Investors also reacted with disappointment. The share price lost more than 6% on the Milan Stock Exchange in a rare slump following the launch of a new model. Shareholders were already irritated in September when Ferrari presented its highly conservative profit targets.
It now remains to be seen how the Luce will fare in the marketplace when it goes on sale later in the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment