Ferrari has revealed the exterior design and full technical details of its first electric car: the new Luce.
Ferrari’s second five-door car (after the Purosangue) and its first five-seater will go on sale priced at around £440,000, with UK deliveries set for spring 2027.
The Luce has four electric motors, one for each wheel, making a combined 1036bhp, with a 122kWh battery giving it an estimated range of 529km (329 miles).
In terms of performance, Ferrari says the Luce will be able to reach 100km/h (62mph) from rest in 2.5 seconds, travel from 0-200km/h (0-124mph) in 6.8 seconds - making it one of the firm’s fastest-accelerating models yet – and go on to a 309km/h (192mph) top speed.
It’s also the largest Ferrari yet: at 5026mm, the Luce is 53mm longer than the Purosangue, while measuring 1999mm wide across the body and 1544mm high (45mm lower than its V12 sibling), with a 2961mm wheelbase.
The Luce’s design is primarily the work of LoveFrom, the design agency founded by industrial designers Sir Jony Ive – best known for designing the iMac, iPhone and iPad – and Marc Newson, another Apple alumnus. Ferrari has used design houses such as Pininfarina, Bertone and Zagato before, but it says that its relationship with LoveFrom has helped it think radically.
The Luce is a five-door hatchback with aft-hinged rear doors and a cab-forward design (the distance from the driver’s seat to front axle is the same as in the 296 GTB), which affords it a spacious interior. Rather than focusing on downforce, as is usually the case with Ferraris, more attention here has been paid to aerodynamics.
The design theme is to resemble a two-piece body; the black, glassy volume contained within a coloured outer shell isn't dissimilar to how the 12Cilindri’s glass-and-gloss-black volumes look when inserted into its body panels.
The Luce’s four electric motors produce a system total of 1036bhp and a maximum torque output of 739lb ft, which is heavily rear-biased, with 416bhp and 262lb ft produced by each rear motor and 141bhp and 103lb ft coming from each front motor.
The radial flux, permanent magnet synchronous motors are a derivative of the type used in the hybrid drivetrains of Ferrari’s GT racers and the F80 hypercar.
The front motors can spin at up to 30,000rpm, while the larger rear motors top out at 25,000rpm, owing to their larger outer diameter, different gearing and a larger wheel diameter at the rear. The motor and gearbox module at the front weighs just 65kg, with the rear at around 130kg.
The battery, weighing 630kg, is designed and built in Maranello and integrated into the car’s floorpan. Designed with Korean battery company SK On, it consists of 210 cells connected in series, arranged 14 per module, with 15 modules in the pack – one centrally at the front behind the front axle, then mounted two by two to the rear, where the last four are stacked two-high, beneath the rear seats.
They have a peak discharge rate of 830kW and a total capacity of 122kWh at 800V, with a usable capacity of around 11kWh. The Luce’s peak charge speed is claimed to be 350kW, although Ferrari says it will take 70kWh in 20 minutes, meaning a sustained rate over that time of 210kW.
The battery pack is designed and built in Maranello so that Ferrari, which says 90% of all of its cars are still on the road, can place new battery tech into its own pack design should it need to, even decades down the road - in a similar way to how it’s offering F80-derived packs for LaFerrari batteries now.
It has the largest wheels yet fitted to a Ferrari, with 23in, 9.5J front and 24in, 11J rear wheels, in two different styles – lighter five-spoke alloys or a more aerodynamically efficient turbine design, which gives maximum range. Ferrari’s chief product development officer, Gianmaria Fulgenzi, said the Luce will be “the most comfortable Ferrari ever produced”.
The suspension is by double wishbones at the front and rear and employs an evolution of the 48V Multimatic TrueActive spool-valve dampers first used on the Purosangue, which negate the need for conventional anti-roll bars. Here, though, their internal ball screw pitch is increased by 20%, which better absorbs vertical impacts, and they’re 0.5kg lighter at each corner.
The Luce has ‘floating’ front and rear spoilers, each separated from the black form, allowing air to flow between the body and “this smooth, inherently aerodynamic object [inside],” said Newson. While Ferrari doesn’t quote a number, because the car has to still generate some downforce to cope with its prodigious top speed, it says the Luce has the lowest drag coefficient of any road-going Ferrari: 25% less than the Amalfi, while generating the same kind of downforce.
Elements of the Luce’s interior design had been shown in part before the car’s unveiling this week, but this is the first time Ferrari has shown the elements together inside the finished cabin. The short-bonnet design and absence of a transmission tunnel free up enough space for the Luce to host Ferrari’s first five-seat interior, as well as 40/20/40-split rear seats with a 597-litre boot behind - Ferrari’s largest yet.
But the most notable elements of the Luce’s interior are surely the control surfaces that were previewed earlier this year, and which feature high-grade materials and physical buttons and dials.
There's a small, thin-rimmed steering wheel reminiscent of classic Ferraris, as well as glass-fronted and -backed dials that feature both physical needles and high-definition digital displays.
Most controls can be felt for rather than having to be looked at and all are engineered to feel heavy, or positive, to the touch. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both supported and personalised ADAS preferences are available with one button-push on the steering wheel.
Ferrari’s engineers promise the Luce will be extraordinary to drive. Testing chief Raffaele de Simone said that “it behaves like… you have no idea. It’s a new sensation.”
With active rear steering, torque vectoring and the low centre of gravity, the steering response is said to be 15% faster than in the Purosangue, even though the rack is the same. Ferrari’s famous steering column paddles remain too, but instead of artificial gearshifts, such as in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, the left-hand paddle increases regenerative braking while also reducing the amount of available power.
The Ferrari Luce will cost €550,000 ($640,428) in continental Europe, where it will go on sale early next year, with an estimate of £440,000 in the UK, plus or minus 10%. Customer deliveries are due to begin next spring.
