21 comments

  • Mashimo 53 minutes ago
    The inside looks so freaking cool: https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/auto/ferrari-luce-design

    Look at those tactile buttons and knobs. For cruise control and wipers. And the flip switches for Infotainment / climate.

    The "LUNCH" mode button that you have to pull and then shows a glowing ring. Feels 90s science fiction. I wonder if I can 3D print a replica, not sure for what yet, but I want it. It's literally inspiring for me.

    The outside though :(

    • jonplackett 43 minutes ago
      I think all cars should have a ‘LUNCH’ button.

      It can be sponsored by Uber Eats and whenever you press it, it automatically orders a burger to your current GPS co-ordinates.

    • embedding-shape 41 minutes ago
      > Look at those tactile buttons and knobs. For cruise control and wipers. And the flip switches for Infotainment / climate.

      Are we looking at the same images? The steering wheel (https://ferrari-cdn.thron.com/delivery/public/image/ferrari/...) has a bunch of switches, yeah, but the Infotainment/climate (https://ferrari-cdn.thron.com/delivery/public/image/ferrari/...) seems to be all touchscreen buttons on the huge iPad-like device in the middle? Like most modern cars, it looks incredibly difficult to use and outright dangerous.

      • bob001 39 minutes ago
        Those aren't touch screen buttons. Clear in any non-frontal image of which there's plenty.
        • embedding-shape 35 minutes ago
          You're right, the image seemed to kind of hide this. Seems this "video" with some perspective change makes it a lot more clearer what's going on: https://ferrari-cdn.thron.com/static/MXY2SL_Control_Panel_16...

          Seems to still depend on some state that they show on the display, makes it seems like you still need to hit "invisible" buttons in the iPad UI to start setting the temperature with the hardware "lever", kind of defeating the purpose. But maybe again it's just the website/images/videos being unclear.

          • darkwater 24 minutes ago
            I guess there is probably some easy and "no look" way to go to some default state where you control temperature etc. If you start fiddling with songs etc it's been distracting since forever anyway, physical knobs or not. Fine-tuning the frequency knob to get rid of the noise was always distracting.
  • TheAlchemist 36 minutes ago
    Hilariously, the quote that comes to my mind when reading about this monstrosity, is one from Steve Jobs "Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you".

    Ferrari sells dreams. That's not a car anybody will dream about.

  • vmsp 52 minutes ago
    With the kind of press it’s getting, I bet this model will outsell all others made in the last 10y. I don’t remember the last time a Ferrari was on the news.
    • dist-epoch 16 minutes ago
      Exactly, everybody will instantly recognize it, like the Cybertruck.

      While all the other recent Ferrari's are basically a blur, I bet 95% of people could order then roughly by year.

    • bob001 40 minutes ago
      Yes, people spend $640,000 based on some news...
      • jonplackett 26 minutes ago
        As apposed to spending it based on feels?

        For people who buy a Ferrari the price is not part of the equation at all.

        Also Ferrari’s whole game is demand and supply manipulation - there are always more people who want a Ferrari than can actually buy one. These will all sell out whatever happens.

      • soco 25 minutes ago
        That goes the other way as well: who spends 640k on a car won't care much about the opinion of influencer X on platform Y.
  • Sweepi 19 minutes ago
    Regarding "The exterior looks like an iPad since Jony Ive designed it":

    Marc Newson is also on the team, and there striking similarities to (t)his 27 year old concept car[1]: https://marc-newson.com/ford-021c-concept-car/

    Regarding the UI: This is miles ahead of any other digital cockpit made by Ferrari. Also pretty good overall.

    [1] via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48271629#48278841

  • lovlar 24 minutes ago
    I had a conversation with my industrial design teacher at university once about how slight ugly and uncommon design might have a positive effect on consumer demand over time.

    I don’t know if there is a psychological term for that phenomena in design but I think it’s related with mere-exposure effect [1]. A design that stands out and is uncommon, will evolve a deeper relationship over time with the observer than a well-polished predictable design.

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-exposure_effect

    • servo_sausage 14 minutes ago
      The problem is that the eFerrari looks like a slightly improved bog-standard $40k Chinese EV crossover suppository.

      It's not all that ugly, it just doesn't really hit any Ferrari design language, or even do something interesting enough to justify the extreme cost.

    • dist-epoch 19 minutes ago
      Balenciaga
  • jrmg 42 minutes ago
    Isn’t it kinda traditional for people to say new Ferrari models are ‘ugly’ and ‘not a Ferrari’?
    • ahmedfromtunis 20 minutes ago
      This is a different kind of ugly.

      For previous models, it was the excessive "sportiness" that sometimes made them look like a car from a mecha anime.

      Luce's is more of an underwhelmed look, especially with the outstanding interior design it was privileged to have that was (rightfully) overhype over the last few months.

      A car with that kind of an interior deserved a much bolder design.

    • cucumber3732842 22 minutes ago
      It's like "that's not a real Jeep real Jeeps have..." but for white collar office people.
    • hresvelgr 31 minutes ago
      The new Toyota Prius looks better than this. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if Ferrari is being outdone on design by a common commuter vehicle it looks terrible.
  • randomNumber7 23 minutes ago
    "Know your place" is what came to my mind when I looked at this.

    I get that they think about going away from the combustion engine, but as a manufacturer of insanely expensive, loud and overpowerd sports car this doesn't make sense.

    It's like if I as a software dev would be worried about the future market and suddenly advertise myself as a psychologist in search for clients.

  • bdcravens 43 minutes ago
    I know there's reasons they don't, but just take a form factor that is already loved, and stick an EV drive train in it. There's nothing about electricity that requires everything to look like something from Star Wars.
    • rozab 3 minutes ago
      Porsche do this and have been very successful.

      Speaking of Porsche, they did once design a Star Wars ship and ended up with something super generic that looked like a free sci-fi model on sketchfab. Same as this car.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJevc8fQVEg

    • binarymax 25 minutes ago
      They specifically avoided this due to the center of gravity issue, as mentioned in a top gear article several days ago. The design philosophy makes sense to start from scratch - but IMO they hired the wrong designer.
  • mellosouls 45 minutes ago
    Its ugly and not fast for its class, even compared to much cheaper cars.

    That's a paradigm shift for Ferrari which has always been associated with exclusive performance and beauty - and the removal of that USP is why it is seeing such pushback.

    • enahs-sf 32 minutes ago
      0-60 in 2.5s — faster than a GT3RS, but slower than a 911 turbo S. I guess for north of half a million, you should be able to keep up with the german top dog.
      • tobyhinloopen 26 minutes ago
        It’s 0.4 seconds faster than a 50K Model 3 performance.

        At that point, does it even matter

        • darkwater 21 minutes ago
          Pure acceleration is not everything, especially on track. But I guess a Model S Plaid (RIP) would beat easily a Luce.
    • cucumber3732842 15 minutes ago
      It's acceleration by itself isn't noteworthy for it's class but it's a Ferrari and they don't really half ass these things. I'm sure it handles amazingly.

      Same reason why people buy Porche SUVs instead of 700hp Grand Cherokees (it's a fucking shame they never tossed that engine in the Journey though) or Corvettes instead of Chargers.

  • michaelteter 59 minutes ago
    I don’t possess the design vocabulary to properly roast the design, but it looks like an amateur’s first sketch at a “car of the future”.

    Or it look like a modern successor to the Pontiac Aztek.

    I can only imagine what the Italian designers have to say about it…

    • madduci 51 minutes ago
      Don't worry, they are all pissed off
  • Lucas12546 59 minutes ago
    When I first saw this car, I thought it was ugly and expensice. Look at Chinese cars, they're cheap, stylish, and comfortable. I really envy Chinese people who can buy those cars.
  • danbruc 14 minutes ago
    Ignore that car, but what is this?

    This is a brand that permanently banned Paris Hilton for painting her Ferrari pink, Kim Kardashian for modifying her 458, and Justin Bieber for wrapping his in neon blue.

    Where does that fall on the line between your product, your rules and I bought the thing, I own it, I paint it blue? My gut reaction was that this should totally not be legal, neither telling people how to paint their car, nor telling them what [not] to do with it, or to which places they can take it, seriously? And also banning people from buying one to enforce this.

  • kumarvvr 51 minutes ago
    I just want to know what exactly is wrong with it?

    I get the history with Ferrari cars and their aesthetic and all.

    But it looks like what one would expect from the man who designed iPhone.

    • topspin 31 minutes ago
      > what exactly is wrong

      Some chucklehead car review guy on YouTube is going to get their hands on one of these, put a Door Dash car topper on the roof and drive around town to see if anyone notices the $640k delivery vehicle. Few people will, and that's what's wrong: the entire point of Ferrari, for better or worse, going on 85+ years, is to get looks.

      If all the people that have ever purchased a Ferrari for its interior design vanished today, there are so few it wouldn't make a headline. The Testarossa interior was so bad it probably shouldn't have been permitted by the DOT et al. Yet there it was, plastered on posters and magazine covers; a thing of dreams around the world.

      So only yet another case of complete disconnect between a brand and its loyalists. Not the first, and given the myopia plaguing such folk today, not the last.

    • monooso 38 minutes ago
      You just identified what (some) people dislike about it. It's the disconnect between your final two sentences.
      • plun9 35 minutes ago
        It would have worked fine with a much lower price and if it were badged as an Apple car.
    • cpursley 38 minutes ago
      It's an overpriced Hyundai. Just because it has a Ferrari badge does not make it a Ferrari.

      Here's what an electric EV supercar could look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlRIdLz6Juk

    • soco 21 minutes ago
      > from the man who designed iPhone

      How about this: techbros got their hands everywhere nowadays, so even an iconic car brand is forced to use their brainfarts? Forced by market pressure, forced by export conditions, you name it, but I cannot fathom why otherwise getting a tech guy design a car. I actually like the design, but I must agree it doesn't look Ferrari at all. Did they fire Manzoni or what?

  • gbil 59 minutes ago
    I hope that at least they keep the one great thing from this exercise, the controls-UI bundle. Looks really great, intuitive and unique enough for the brand
  • jeffrallen 1 hour ago
    It should not be a surprise that if you hire Ive to design something, it's gonna look like an iPad. It should not be a surprise that Ferrari stakeholders don't want an iPad car.

    This is just gross incompetence all around.

    Above all, Ive had an ethical responsibility to protect his clients from harming themselves by refusing the commission.

  • DeathArrow 34 minutes ago
    There's a reason why the top Swiss brands don't manufacture quartz watches.

    From some point on, people buy stories, experiences, luxury. Gadgets don't provide the same experience.

    • ahoka 18 minutes ago
      They do.
  • everyone 22 minutes ago
    It's literally retro futuristic. Looks exactly like a concept car from the 80's
  • dist-epoch 24 minutes ago
    This is exactly the Innovator Dilemma at work.

    Ferarri took the bold action to not be tied with it's past.

    One of their director explicitly said they used an external design company to intentionally to avoid a minor refinement of its ICE cars.

    They knew how this car will be perceived, if only because surely there must have been fierce internal resistance.

  • DeathArrow 42 minutes ago
    Ferrari devalued their brand.

    From manufacturing luxury vehicles they are now manufacturing gadgets.

    If someone is interested in buying a tablet on wheels, he can shop Tesla or Xiaomi, they don't need a Ferrari.

  • thefz 11 minutes ago
    I am Italian.

    I recognize Ferrari is one of our most iconic and exported brands.

    Also I could not give any less fucks about the new Ferrari, the fact that it's ugly, the fact that it's probably going to tank or be a hit. They and their products are so detached from the lives of 99.9999999% of the population.

    Also, whaat do you expect from a guy that used to design computer mice.