Ever since its initial announcement last year, we’ve been patiently waiting for new details of Ferrari’s first electric car.
Named the Elettrica in early development, we can now reveal that the first electric Ferrari will be called the Luce.
In Italian, ‘luce’ means source of light, and is the colloquial term for electricity. Ferrari boss Benedetto Vigna says the name reflects how the car is “lighting the future of the company”.
The Luce is expected to be fully revealed in May with over 1000bhp, a quad-motor powertrain and four seats.
To keep us happy until the car’s full unveiling, The Prancing Horse has given us a sneak peek of the model’s interior - and there’s good news for lovers of buttons and physical controls.
Want to see more? Scroll on for all the latest images of the new Ferrari Luce’s interior.
The interior and exterior of the Luce have been developed by design firm LoveFrom, co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive. Ive oversaw the styling of products including the iPhone, iPad, MacBook and Apple Watch, as well as the user interface of the iOS operating system.
Despite Ive having led the design, the Luce’s interior retains a large number of physical controls, rather than switching everything to a touchscreen. Although car designers repeatedly cite the iPhone as an influence for installing touchscreens, Ive said he would “never” purely use touch controls for a car, because it requires you to look away.
The three-spoke and thin-grip steering wheel is a reference to the Nardi design that was fitted to some of the most iconic Ferraris of the 20th century. Ferrari says it’s inspired by Ive’s personal 250 Europa from the 1950s. It features lots of physical buttons, a manettino for each of the electric modes (which vary power output from 50-100%) and the powertrain settings (which adjust the car’s character and how its power is used), as well as paddles that manage torque.
The centrepiece of the cabin is a movable, 10-inch central touchscreen. The cabin also features anodised aluminium and strengthened glass throughout, supplied from specialist firm Corning.
Crowning the dashboard is a clock, which combines physical dials with a digital display, allowing it to function as a compass or a lap timer as well. This component, which Ferrari states was the most challenging part of the cabin to develop, features hands that are independently driven by their own individual three-gear mechanisms.
The Luce will also include a 12.5-inch digital instrument panel, which sits behind the steering wheel and integrates both manual and digital features. It uses three dials to display speed, power output and more using custom-made OLED screens from Samsung. While features including the odometer are digital, there’s still a physical needle.
The centre console is designed to appear to float and incorporates both leather and glass. To minimise fingerprints, matte glass is used in high-contact areas, while a glossy finish is applied elsewhere. Functionality is key, with the console housing separate storage compartments for the driver and passenger, two cupholders, physical buttons for boot and central locking, and switches for all four windows. Rear passengers benefit from a dedicated touchscreen displaying telemetry such as speed and track time.
A bespoke start-up sequence illustrates Ferrari’s goal of creating an experimental environment. The driver places the square, aluminium and glass key – which is also made of aluminium and glass – into its special holder location. When it is clicked into place, the key’s yellow colour changes to black and the yellow is transferred to the drive selector, which Ferrari describes as a way of “transferring the power from the key to the car”. According to Ive, this sequence took nearly a year to perfect.
The Luce includes a few features that hark back to the Prancing Horse’s heritage, including a three-spoke, thin-rimmed steering wheel. Despite this, Ive says Ferrari wasn’t aiming to be nostalgic but create an interior that retained “some gravitas and weight for the future”.
The launch control system is activated by pulling down on a grip that's located above the driver's head, “like in a helicopter”. It's flanked by switches that control exterior lighting settings, such as the foglights.
