ferrari unveils luce, its first electric car designed by jony ive and marc newson

FERRARI LUCE REVEALED IN ROME

In a monumental shift for the Prancing Horse, Ferrari unveils Luce, its first-ever fully electric vehicle. Revealed against the soaring architectural backdrop of the Vela di Calatrava in Rome, the launch marks a radical new chapter in Maranello’s storied history. Beyond simply swapping combustion for battery power, the Luce introduces an entirely new vehicle architecture: it is the brand’s first model to generously accommodate four doors and five seats, wrapped in an unprecedented aesthetic born from a high-profile creative collaboration.

To define this new era, Ferrari looked outside its in-house design studio, tapping the creative collective LoveFrom, led by Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson. Working in tandem with Ferrari Design Director Flavio Manzoni, the team was granted the creative freedom to conceive a disruptive, yet deeply authentic, new design language.

images courtesy Ferrari

DESIGN BY LOVEFROM’S SIR JONY IVE AND MARC NEWSON

Freed from the traditional constraints of a front-mid engine and rear gearbox, LoveFrom’s Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson capitalized on the electric architecture to create a vehicle defined by clean, sweeping volumes. The Ferrari Luce’s exterior is characterized by the purity of its ‘glass house’, an uncompromised, shell-like form that extends below the beltline to the absolute extremes of the car. To achieve this seamless look, Ferrari and LoveFrom collaborated closely with Corning® to engineer advanced glass elements that form the primary surfaces of the cabin.

Enhancing this fluid silhouette are suspended front and rear aerodynamic wings that appear to float above and around the glass house.

The lighting design follows this minimalist ethos: transparent front and rear light panels sit flush with the primary surfaces, gently receding when switched off to preserve the purity of the form, while the halo tail lights offer a subtle homage to the classic 360 Modena and 458 Italia. Grounding the vehicle are the largest staggered wheels ever fitted to a series-production Ferrari, 23 inches at the front and 24 inches at the rear, available in either a forged open five-spoke or an aerodynamically optimized turbine design.

Ferrari introduces its first fully electric car with the Luce

electric performance with its own language

Ferrari could have treated the Luce as a technical statement and stopped there. Instead, the project seems invested in the specific gestures that make driving feel active. The right paddle gives the driver five power levels, while the left controls five levels of engine braking. The system avoids the easy trick of fake gear changes and creates a new way to manage torque through the hands.

The sound strategy follows the same logic. Ferrari uses an accelerometer at the rear axle to capture real vibrations from the electric components, then filters and amplifies that signal, closer to an electric guitar than a prerecorded soundtrack. For a brand so closely tied to engine noise, this feels like one of the smartest design moves in the car: the Luce gets a voice without pretending to be combustion.

the exterior sees a low, stretched profile with rear hinged doors and a strong horizontal graphic line

five seats at Ferrari scale

The body also changes the social idea of a Ferrari. Ferrari Luce is described as the company’s first five-seater and carries the largest trunk in the brand’s history, at 597 liters. That sounds practical on paper, but in design terms it is more interesting as a shift in posture. This is a Ferrari built around shared space, with doors and cabin volume doing as much work as acceleration figures.

Those figures still matter. The car uses a 122 kWh battery, four electric motors, and a combined 830 kW, with 0 to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds, 0 to 200 km/h in 6.8 seconds, a top speed of 310 km/h, and more than 530 kilometers of range. Ferrari also says the Luce uses an 800V architecture and fast charging up to 350 kW. The engineering is extreme, but the design story is how that performance gets translated into touch, proportion, and feedback.

Ferrari gives the EV a real sound profile by amplifying vibrations from the electric drivetrain

the steering wheel is machined from 100% recycled aluminum with a leather grip

the steering wheel, torque control paddles and binnacle combine to form the steering assembly

project info:

name: Luce

brand: Ferrari | @ferrariusa

designers: Jony Ive, Marc Newson | @marcnewsonofficial

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