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Luxury sports car maker Ferrari has unveiled its first fully electric vehicle, the $640,000 Luce, marking a dramatic departure from everything the Italian brand has ever built.
The Luce, Italian for "light", took half a decade to develop. It is Ferrari's first five-seater and was designed in collaboration with LoveFrom, the creative agency founded by former Apple chief designer Sir Jony Ive. Where current Ferraris like the Amalfi and Purosangue wear muscular fenders, hexagonal grilles, and aggressive air intakes, the Luce takes a different path entirely, a wedge-shaped, glass-domed shell with smooth, convex surfaces, no sharp edges, and a floating cabin elevated by a floor-mounted battery pack.
Ferrari's chief commercial officer Enrico Galliera said the company deliberately started from scratch rather than electrifying an existing platform. "We want to test something completely different," he said.
Under the bodywork, the Luce carries a quad-motor setup, one electric motor per wheel, producing over 1,050 horsepower and a 0-60mph time of around 2.5 seconds. Four-wheel steering, adaptive suspension, and carbon-sleeved motors with high-voltage inverter technology derived from Ferrari's racing programme complete the package. All components are made in-house, protecting the car's long-term repairability and resale value.
Market reaction was swift. Ferrari shares fell more than 4% on Tuesday morning. Social media responses ranged from calling it "straight to the junkyard trash" to "an absolute masterclass in design." Ferrari's chief design officer Flavio Manzoni acknowledged the car is "polarising" but believes opinion will shift in the months ahead.
Ferrari plans to continue offering petrol and hybrid cars alongside the Luce, even as rivals retreat. Lamborghini has abandoned all-electric ambitions in favour of hybrids, and Porsche has scaled back EV plans amid weak Chinese demand and US tariffs. Western carmakers broadly face intensifying competition from Chinese manufacturers capable of producing vehicles faster and more cheaply.
Ferrari remains Europe's most valuable carmaker. Its strategy of extreme exclusivity has shielded it from pressures that have battered rivals, though its shares have still fallen more than 25% over the past year.
