Jony Ive has pushed back against criticism of the Ferrari Luce, Maranello's first fully electric car, insisting the vehicle looks better when seen up close rather than in photographs. The former Apple design chief made his comments during a discussion at Wave by Vento, held at OGR in Turin on October 7.

Ive, whose LoveFrom studio partnered with Ferrari on the project, said that breaking from convention only matters if it actually results in a better product. He noted that principle guided every decision his team made while working alongside Ferrari's designers.

The conversation also shed light on how the idea of an electric Ferrari came about. Ferrari chairman John Elkann recounted a walk he took with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos back in July 2016, during which Bezos urged him to think seriously about building an electric Ferrari. Bezos framed the suggestion around innovation, and that conversation eventually set the Luce project in motion.

Rather than jumping straight into design work, LoveFrom spent nearly a year immersing itself in Ferrari's history and culture before a five-year development process began, split between California and Maranello. That collaboration, which drew on talent from well outside the automotive world, culminated in the Luce's unveiling in May.

Those outside influences are especially visible inside the cabin, where the team intentionally avoided making touchscreens the primary way drivers interact with the car. Ive argued that relying too heavily on digital surfaces erodes the tactile connection between people and the objects they use. As a result, the Luce leans on buttons, dials and other physical controls that give drivers real feedback, with glass, metal and leather used throughout the interior alongside screens. The car's electric platform also gave designers more freedom to reimagine the cabin layout than a traditional combustion-powered Ferrari would allow.

It's the exterior that has sparked the most debate. Ive maintains that the Luce needs to be experienced in person, since photos can misrepresent how the car actually looks. Ferrari put a Luce on display in Turin, where, according to Reuters, crowds lined up to examine it firsthand.

Elkann stressed that Ferrari wasn't trying to be provocative for its own sake. Despite the mixed reception, the company remains confident in the Luce, viewing it as a way to introduce electric power while still pushing the brand's identity forward after decades defined by combustion engines.

Source: ClubAlfa.it

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