Jony Ive’s Ferrari doesn’t look like a Ferrari

Ferrari makes some of the fastest cars on the planet, so it’s anyone’s guess how the Italian automaker ended up so incredibly late to the electric car party. Long after most automakers had done so in a big way They scaled back their ambitions in the field of electric cars, Battery-powered models have been cancelledor Downsizing plans for the factoryFerrari emerges from the shadows with a truly strange person: All-electric Los.

Ferrari unveiled the Luce on Monday at Villa di Calatrava, a massive architectural sports complex on the outskirts of Rome. In many ways, it’s the most anticipated and also the most interesting electric car since battery-powered models first arrived on the scene. Electric Ferrari! This is a huge deal!

But the Luce doesn’t look like a Ferrari at all. In fact, it sounds more like something Apple would make. Which makes sense because Luce was designed with the help of LoveFromthe design company run by famous Apple designer Jony Ive and his partner Marc Newson.

This is basically the closest we’ll get to an Apple car.

Remember when Apple was going to build its own self-driving car? Instead, the project remained in development hell for years Tim Cook finally pulled the plug? Apple may have decided that designing its own car wasn’t worth the effort, but Apple’s former chief designer clearly hasn’t given up on the idea completely. By evolving the design into the LoveFrom, Ferrari has essentially, and perhaps inadvertently, revived the dream of the Apple car. Luce could have easily walked out of the design halls of Cupertino.

The exterior is certainly as smooth and rounded as an Apple product designed by Ive. Utopia He said it was closer to Magic mouseHonestly, where is the lie? (Fortunately, the charging port isn’t located on the Ferrari’s underside.) Ferrari fans are understandably apoplectic about the Los. But being a die-hard fan of any car brand always means disappointment. My feed is already crowded Emotional denunciations From Los.

Personally, I’m intrigued. Ive’s work at Apple has focused on elegant simplicity, so it’s somewhat surprising to see Real texture of buttons, knobs and switches Throughout the interior of Los. Naturally, all of the displays have rounded corners reminiscent of an iPhone or iPad, so the Ive influence is still front and center.

The center screen sits on a ball-and-socket joint, allowing it to swivel toward the driver or passenger. It also includes a palm rest so you can interact with the controls without looking. The multi-graphics mechanical display with three independent motors functions as a clock, chronograph, compass or launch control indicator.

The rounded edges and metallic finish are all very Jony Ive-designed, as is the careful attention paid to it. Gone are the sharp lines and aggressive stylings that Ferrari spent nearly 80 years building its reputation around. What we have instead is a sweeping ‘greenhouse’, large aerodynamic wings, and flowing lighting to achieve the lowest drag coefficient in Ferrari history. If the legendary Italian automaker was going to roll out its old designs for a new model, this is the company to do it for.

Whether Ferrari will fully embrace Luce’s Apple-ness by empowering the iPhone maker remains to be seen CarPlay Ultra That remains to be seen. The Italian automaker hasn’t confirmed whether the more spacious version of CarPlay, which takes over more screens and controls basic functions like HVAC and speedometer, will come to any of its models yet.

Once you get past the polarizing looks, the Ferrari Luce has a lot to admire under the hood. The electric car has four working electric motors With a power of 1,035 horsepower – But not to the same extent. Combined, the two front engines generate just 282 horsepower, while the rear engines generate 835 horsepower. This translates into lively acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds, and 0 to 124 mph in 6.8 seconds. This is not that fast Clear sapphire Or even recently revealed ones Mercedes-AMG GT four-door coupeBut honestly I doubt you’ll notice the difference when you’re immediately suffocating with tears streaming down your face.

Electrons are delivered to those motors through a 122-kilowatt-hour battery pack, although that is gross rather than net capacity. Ferrari claims 330 miles on the WLTP cycle, and that tends to be more optimistic than the EPA-rated range. We expect the final number to be somewhere around 310 miles. The Luce is also built on an 800V DC fast charging architecture, with the ability to reach a maximum of 350kW.

Luce represents a lot of firsts for Ferrari. It’s the first electric car, the first four-door sedan, and the heaviest Ferrari ever built, at 4,982 pounds — about 100 pounds more than a four-door Ferrari Purosangio. Ironic for a model whose name translates to “light.”

The Luce may be heavier than the Purosangue, but the wheelbase is slightly shorter, about 2.3 inches. This helps accommodate the battery built directly into the chassis floor. Which brings me to a broader point that potentially explains why Luce looks the way she does. The design of an electric car is fundamentally different from the design of a sports car. If Ferrari had taken one of its two-door mid-engined supercars, or front-engined GT cars, and replaced the battery and some electric motors, the specs would have been a big deal. The range was pitiful. The antenna could have been skewed. Fans will likely applaud the familiar, traditional shape, but it was completely useless as an electric vehicle.

Instead, Ferrari did what it had to do to make the Luce the best and most impressive electric car ever. Handing over the design keys to Ive and Newson was certainly a choice Ferrari fans would be grappling with in the near future.

I may have never designed a car before, but Newson certainly has. In fact, Lucy looks incredibly similar Ford 021Ca retro-futuristic concept car that was first unveiled at the 1999 Tokyo Motor Show. Newson, who worked at Apple alongside Ive, designed the 021C to look like the basic car a child would draw in the form of simple “three boxes” with rounded edges, vibrant paint and a floating white roof. Like the Los, the 021C features front-hinged doors, as well as a trunk that slides out like a drawer rather than opening up. Perhaps Luce is more of Newson’s mind than Eve’s.

However, the idea of ​​producing an electric Ferrari has been in the air for more than eight years. Former Ferrari Chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne The first thing that raised the possibility At the 2018 Detroit Auto Show, he said: “If ever there was an electric supercar built, Ferrari would be the first.”

Well, Ferrari certainly wasn’t the first. But she revealed something truly unique in her collection. Whether that’s a good or bad thing will be determined by the elite few who can afford Lose’s $640,000 (€550,000) starting price. The automaker’s board, which includes Apple CEO Eddy Cue as a non-executive member, will likely be happy about that.

As for the idea of ​​an Apple-built car, the Luce is probably the closest we’ll ever get. The real Apple car, the one that was canceled, remains a mysterious, mysterious object that never took shape outside of the world. Rough and embarrassing perceptions From the company’s most loyal fan base. And although it was mostly a wasted effort, the spirit certainly lives on – in Rome of all places.