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The controversial styling of Ferrari's first electric car has met a harsh reaction – including from a former chairman of the company – but it is not all negative.
The former chief executive who saved Ferrari from financial trouble in the 1990s is among the critics of the brand's first electric car, the Luce, calling for it to be stripped of its Prancing Horse badges.
The battery-powered Luce is one of the most powerful Ferraris ever built – and is loaded with advanced technology – but it has met criticism for its polarising appearance, styled in part by a firm led by former Apple designer Sir Jony Ive and Australia's Marc Newson.
Among its highest-profile detractors has been Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari chairman from 1991 to 2014, who turned the company from a loss-maker into one of the world's most profitable car brands.
"If I had to say what I really think, I would be hurting Ferrari," Montezemolo – who led Ferrari for longer than any other executive bar founder Enzo Ferrari – told Italian media in remarks transcribed and translated to English.
"We’re risking the destruction of a myth, and I’m very sorry about that. I hope they at least remove the Prancing Horse from that car.
"This is surely a car that at least the Chinese won’t copy from us."
Montezemolo is famously reported as saying in 2013, towards the end of its time at the top of the firm, that "we will never manufacture an electric car as long as I’m chairman," following similar comments in 2011.
Ferrari has previously sold a car without its badge: the Dino range of V6 sports cars in the 1960s and 1970s, named after founder Enzo's son Alfredo nickname 'Alfredino'.
Criticism of the Luce has also come from members of the Italian government – including the country's transport minister, who said it "looks anything but a Prancing Horse car" – as well as fans on social media.
"Hard to believe this is real," said one user in the comments of an official Ferrari Instagram post, with another labelling it an "Apple mouse on wheels".
"Enzo is spinning so hard in his grave," said another.
While much of the sentiment on social media towards the Luce has been negative, there has been some praise of its polarising looks.
One commenter on Drive's reveal coverage this week called it "different but stunning", while another said "it's pretty cool," calling the button-heavy interior – also designed with Ive and Newson's design firm LoveFrom – "phenomenal".
"I love it: It's a bold departure for Ferrari, but is as modern and stylish as any four-door, five-seater EV could ever be," said another user.
Ferrari's stock price has been widely reported as dipping overnight by 5.1 per cent in New York, and 8.4 per cent in Milan, said to be its sharpest single-day drop since October 2025.
However, its share price has effectively just returned to its level this time last week.
The Luce is not intended to be a top seller for Ferrari, with electric cars only forecast to account for 20 per cent of the company's deliveries by the end of the decade.
Rather than traditional, established buyers familiar with Ferrari's V8s and V12s, the Luce is aimed at drawing new customers into the brand.
It is priced from €550,000 (AUD$890,000) in Europe, more expensive than the V12-powered Purosangue SUV, and in line with the prices of its fastest petrol-powered supercars.
Once it arrives in Australia next year, and Luxury Car Tax is factored into the RRP, it is likely to top the $933,000 Rolls-Royce Spectre Black Badge as the country's most expensive electric car.
For the price, buyers receive four electric drive motors, one on each wheel, for combined outputs of 772kW and 990Nm, and a 0-100km/h acceleration time of 2.5 seconds.
It skips synthesised petrol-engine sounds, as in rival high-performance electric cars, for guitar-inspired technology that amplifies the natural vibrations of the electric motors.
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
