That certainly wasn’t the reception Ferrari was expecting for its new Luce electric vehicle, but then again, that wasn’t what any Ferrari lover was hoping for either.
Instead of the usually low-slung, sleek supercars the Italian brand is known for, it’s produced a soccer-mom family car. With a whopping pricetag of $640,000 (R10,5-million).
There is outrage about the new design, which is a four-door sedan and not something you’d see Magnum driving around in. Maybe an older, settled-down, had-kids Magnum.
I’m always amazed when people have such strong emotions about things that I don’t care about – including cars, football, the firing and hiring of soccer coaches, anything to do with Formula One, and reality TV.
So much froth and anger about something so inconsequential, you might say, but not to the brand-loving Ferrari Tifosi supporters.
Frankly, I quite like it. I think it’s elegant and practical (I have a nine-year-old son, so am firmly in the family car phase and no longer my two-door Mini phase), and I really like the interior. Also, I like the way the doors open.
I am, however, not a petrolhead and have no idolised pedestal for cars, of any kind. As my late father once replied, when I asked him what his new car was: “a white one”. I feel pretty much like that, too.
Until EVs came along.
Now I’m probably considered a batteryhead™.
I’m fascinated by this new(ish) technology and how it will transform transport. EVs are truly the future, we all know. But, as Ferrari’s faux pas has just shown us, there will be teething problems along the way.
How do you pivot a high-end brand from the two-seater pocket rockets into family-friendly EVs – without losing the panache or brand cachet?
Ferrari isn’t the first luxury carmaker to face this problem – Jaguar’s own pivot was just as controversial last year – and it won’t be the last.
So, what does the future look like for supercars with a premium brand logo on the bonnet?
I like the interior of the Luce. It matches the sophistication of the Ferrari cars and includes all the now-modern upgrades, including touchscreen interfaces and the de rigeur giant tablet in the centre of the dashboard.
It is a very modern interior. The exterior is what has the internet hopping with outrage and some outrageous memes. The best meme must be a Luce flipped onto its roof with an iPhone cable stuck in the bottom – a reference to its consulting designer Jony Ive, who gave the world the Apple mouse with a charger at the bottom.
Geeks everywhere applauded – the meme, sadly for Ferrari, not the car.
