Skip to content
Tech News
← Back to articles

Ferrari Luce unveiled: Here's the first car from Jony Ive's design house

read original get Ferrari Luce Model Kit → more articles
Why This Matters

The Ferrari Luce represents a significant innovation in electric vehicle sound design, blending traditional Ferrari acoustics with modern EV technology. Its unique approach to creating authentic engine sounds enhances the driving experience while maintaining brand identity, signaling a new direction for luxury electric sports cars. This development underscores the evolving landscape of EVs, where sound and brand heritage remain vital to consumer appeal and industry differentiation.

Key Takeaways

EVs, of course, make very little noise. Their silence is one of their strongest attributes when you're just cruising to work. But with Ferrari, the sound has always been a crucial part of the experience. Thankfully, that continues with the Luce.

Rather than creating a wholly synthesized sound, like Hyundai's Ioniq 5 N, for example, the Luce actually has a sort of acoustic pickup mounted on the rear axle. There, it can sample the vibrations of the rear motors. That signal is then pumped through a sort of amplifier to create a distinctive note that is suitably evocative but still wholly distinctive. It has a familiar sound that isn't far off from some of the company's high-strung V8s in the past, but yet clearly isn't trying to pretend to be something else. It is its own thing.

Ferrari likens the process to an amp for an electric guitar, pointing to this being the next evolution beyond analog motoring. Ferrari has already evolved through numerous powertrains in the past, both large and small, and with engines mounted ahead of or behind the driver.

This, though, feels rather more significant, a complete reboot to both the brand's look and feel as well as its means of propulsion. Will it be successful? Before anyone can draw a conclusion there we'll have to see how it drives. Hopefully that's an answer we can provide soon.

Hopefully we'll know how much it costs soon, too. Ferrari has not yet set U.S. pricing, but in its home market of Italy it will carry a starting price of €550,000. That will make it the company's most expensive model, pricing it well above the roughly $430,000 Purosangue. That's quite an ask, but then most of LoveFrom's prior designs have carried quite a premium, so why shouldn't this?