Ferrari's First Electric Vehicle Just Debuted Amid Overwhelming Negative Reviews

Source: Global Market Report

Ferrari executives were well aware that their first electric vehicle would draw criticism. However, they probably didn’t anticipate the backlash would be this intense.

This week, as Ferrari’s highly anticipated new model was unveiled, it was immediately met with a storm of criticism. The new car, named “Luce”, features a spacious interior and a glass roof, with its design crafted by the same team responsible for several key Apple products. Yet, its steep price of 550,000 euros (about 640,000 USD), combined with an exterior that closely resembles more affordable mass-market electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf, quickly made it the subject of mockery.

Memes ridiculing its design spread rapidly online, with users even comparing it to Jaguar’s widely criticized brand revamp at the end of 2024. For years, Ferrari owners and die-hard fans had envisioned what the brand’s first electric car might look like. Now, deeply disappointed, they took to Ferrari enthusiasts’ forums to slam the design.

“Oh my god, this car is hideous,” said Montreal-based real estate entrepreneur Luc Poirier when asked about the vehicle. He owns over 40 Ferraris. “How can they even justify selling it for four or five hundred thousand? It’s unbelievable.”

Even in a promotional video Ferrari released a few days before the launch, some internal staff expressed surprise at the car’s appearance. “It’s unexpected,” one person said. “Surprising,” said another.

Following the highly publicized launch event, Ferrari shares plummeted 8% on Tuesday, wiping over $5 billion off the market value of Europe’s most valuable automaker.

Nevertheless, the controversy didn’t stop Ferrari from flaunting the car to prominent political figures. Italian President Sergio Mattarella personally came to view the car, which was later transported to Castel Gandolfo, the residence of Pope Leo XIV near Rome. The Pope even posed next to a white Luce for a commemorative photo.

In fact, Ferrari knew when launching this car that its design was highly controversial. The company intends to use Luce to broaden Ferrari’s definition of “uniqueness.”

When asked about public “bad reviews,” the company spokesperson referenced a recent post on LinkedIn by Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna. He wrote: “True innovation is never a product of democracy. Breakthrough ideas rarely come from instant consensus.”

In an interview before the launch, Ferrari Chairman John Elkann admitted the car broke with Ferrari tradition and aimed to address the common limitations faced by modern high-end electric vehicles. “This is definitely a car for the future,” he said.

Looking back to Luce’s initial announcement in 2021, global enthusiasm for electric vehicles was at its peak. Now, the market landscape has shifted dramatically: American consumer interest has cooled, Chinese automakers are vying for market leadership, and European manufacturers, after an aggressive EV push, are now facing hundreds of billions in asset write-downs.

“I think at the time they saw a huge opportunity,” said Jim Meek, President of the Ferrari Club of America. “Back then, the industry consensus was ‘you have to launch an electric vehicle’. But the market isn’t nearly as frenzied as it was a few years ago.”

Meek noted that while most of the feedback he received from owners echoed the online criticism, some of the new car’s certain details still piqued buyers’ curiosity—from its interior to its fourmotor configuration, and the low center of gravity that benefits handling.

“They can’t wait to see what it looks like in person—and even more, how it drives,” Meek said.

For Ferrari, this car set several brand firsts: its first pure electric powertrain, its first five-seat model, and the first production car with a price tag exceeding $600,000. Moreover, the company broke with its tradition of relying solely on its in-house design team, bringing in Jony Ive, former chief designer at Apple, and his team.

More importantly, this also marks the company’s first true test: without the roaring, powerful internal combustion engine that built the brand’s legend, will fans still pay for a Ferrari that simply bears the badge?

This disruptive launch has also given Ferrari’s long-standing critics a new target.

“If I spoke my true feelings, I would hurt Ferrari. We are at risk of destroying a legendary brand,” said former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo in comments to local media.

During his tenure, he famously declared that Ferrari would never build electric cars. “At the very least, I hope they remove the horse from the car,” he said sarcastically, referring to Ferrari’s iconic prancing horse emblem.

Nevertheless, the design team behind this new model staunchly defends such a radical move.

“Ferrari didn’t have to do this. It’s precisely because the step toward innovation is so great that it’s controversial and extremely risky,” said Ive in a YouTube interview published Monday, hosted by tech journalist Cleo Abram.

Ferrari’s chief designer Flavio Manzoni stated in the same interview that Luce is not the first time the automaker has gone back on a promise to avoid a certain market segment. Previously, another former chairman had vowed the company would never produce an SUV. However, Ferrari launched the Purosangue in 2022, reinventing the traditionally bulky SUV shape with a fresh visual direction.

“At that time, it was also harshly criticized, yet it has become our best-selling model. The first electric car will go through the same process,” Manzoni said. “Criticism is just part of this journey.”

However, those who scoff at the Luce may not matter much.

“As long as Ferrari builds a car, customers will buy it. That’s always been Ferrari’s model,” Bernstein automotive analyst Stephen Reitman wrote in a client report. “We believe that business formula will continue to work.”

Reitman noted that this is largely thanks to Ferrari’s unique sales model: the company strictly selects who is eligible to buy its rarest models based on customer loyalty and past purchase records. Other buyers are simply trying to complete their Ferrari collection.

“For Ferrari, this is a revolutionary and highly controversial car that enters a segment where demand for pure EVs has so far been very limited,” Reitman said. “There has always been skepticism—both in the past and looking ahead—that Ferrari is taking too big a leap this time.”