Ferrari has been teasing the launch of their first electric vehicle (EV) for several years, combining Enzo Ferrari DNA with a modern electric motor. Some say it's like mixing water with oil. But early this morning, the Ferrari Luce was announced as the first EV produced by the Modena-based manufacturer, receiving DNA from Cupertino, California, and Seoul, South Korea.
The interior of the cabin, steering wheel, screen, and information display of this EV received a touch from LoveFrom - Jony Ive's design company responsible for producing the iconic designs of the iPhone, iPod, iMac, and at one point the canceled Apple Car.
Jony Ive's involvement with Luce is not surprising because the collaboration was announced in 2021. Also involved in producing the Luce interior design is Marc Newson, who has worked with Ive several times and is the co-founder of LoveFrom.
The interior design of the EV cockpit retains various physical control buttons but is still combined with Samsung's OLED panels on the driving information cluster and center control console. The center screen can be rotated to face the driver for easy access. The air vents use a rotary button to close the air passages. The steering wheel of the vehicle still retains the classic Ferrari elements with various driving mode buttons included.
One unique element is the small gear knob on the center console using a gated design like the gear of a manual vehicle. It changes color according to the gear selected with a round e-ink screen used on the top. This may be the first time e-ink has been used on a modern EV. Not only that, each screen inside the Luce is protected by a Gorilla Glass panel to prevent scratches and make it more durable.
With the interior design already shown, the actual exterior design of the Ferrari Luce will also be shown next May in Italy. Ferrari is late to enter the EV era completely by only taming hybrid cars. It is the right move at a time when Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and Ford all failed to attract the attention of high-performance car enthusiasts who still love ICE vehicles over EVs.
