A Ferrari For Every Ferrarista

A lot of people have strong opinions about Ferrari’s first EV.

Admittedly, the Ferrari Luce doesn’t look, sound, vibrate, or smell much like any previous Ferrari.

It’s not a sports car.

It seats 5 people (a Ferrari first).

It supports Apple CarPlay.

From the outside, this vehicle is, in a word, “bland” by Ferrari standards.

On the inside, the attention to comfort, combined with a refined blend of screen-based and physical controls, makes the Luce stand out in a world of luxury EVs with buttonless consoles and swooping, curved vehicle displays.

On initial news of the Luce launch, Ferrari’s stock price dropped, wiping out around $2 billion worth of the automaker’s valuation. However, by Friday, Ferrari’s stock price was trading above its level a month ago.

However, if your reaction to the Luce resembles any of the above remarks, or includes some other colourful metaphors not mentioned, then the reality is the Ferrari Luce isn’t for you.

It really isn’t for most people, given its $640,000 USD price tag.

Knowing that this wasn’t a regular Ferrari, their comms team didn’t invite the auto press to review the vehicle.

They invited tech and science-focused YouTubers like Marques Brownlee and Cleo Abram to review it.

They also showed the Luce off to the Pope.

True story.

The Luce was designed in partnership with former Apple designers Jony Ive and Marc Newson, through their firm LoveFrom.

This EV beast boasts four motors, 1,035 horsepower, and around 500 km of electric range.

Although the Luce doesn’t bear much resemblance to any previous Ferrari except for its taillights, it does share some design cues with the upcoming Ferrari 849 Testarossa.

If this EV isn’t for you or for Ferrari’s legacy buyers, who is it for?

The answer is China, as well as the niche segment of tech-bros who are no longer satisfied with their Lucid Airs and can’t bring themselves to drive around in a Cybertruck (or buy anything from Elon).

Ferrari hasn’t been shy about wanting their first EV to turn things around in the largest market for battery-powered vehicles in the world.

Ferrari’s current CEO Benedetto Vigna expects the Luce to “fit better” in Greater China and boost sales, which could prompt a reevaluation of the company’s 10% shipment cap for the region.

Will Chinese buyers, who are currently awash in high-performance, high-tech, locally built affordable options, care to pay up for the prestige of a prancing horse on the hood?

The Luce is a Ferrari that isn’t for any current Ferrarista.

Their goal was to build a next-generation electric Ferrari that was so different from existing and historical Ferraris that it could attract an entirely new customer base without risking cannibalizing existing Ferrari buyers.

And to that end, I think they succeeded.

If the intended audience for this vehicle were wealthy Chinese buyers, Ferrari might have a problem.

The reception of the vehicle in China is much like the reaction elsewhere.

Spoiler alert, it’s like, not great.

If they can’t find buyers in the Chinese mainland, then the Luce might go down in Ferrari history as a novel design experiment that failed miserably.

However, with Ferrari’s established minimal sales footprint (they sold 13,640 cars in 2025) and the high double-digit margins that make Ferrari the most profitable OEM on the planet, they don’t need to sell a lot of Luces for the vehicle to be a success.

If buyers emerge, it will be regarded as a stroke of exceptionality in automotive design and brand marketing.

The Dolphin G will go on sale soon as BYD’s first car developed specifically for global markets. BYD said its “game-changing” plug-in hybrid system will offer over 1,000 km (621 miles) of combined range at an affordable price. electrek.co

Xpeng forecast second-quarter revenue below market expectations, underscoring a prolonged slowdown in demand and stiff ​competition in the Chinese EV market. reuters.com

Geely’s Lynk & Co brand launched its new 10 series, a lineup of mid- to large-sized EV sedans with charging speeds that outpace BYD’s Flash Charging and a starting price of around $25,000 USD. carnewschina.com

China’s electric vehicle giants are suddenly suffering in their own backyard, as EV sales plunge nationwide and slam earnings at such leaders as BYD and Geely. autonews.com

The Donald’s administration plans to continue to allow Geely-owned Volvo to sell connected cars in the US despite the country’s ban on Chinese connected-vehicle software. techcrunch.com, arstechnica.com

The destruction of Jeff Bezos’s New Glenn rocket clouds NASA’s lunar timeline and deepens the US’s reliance on SpaceX as the US races against China to the moon. washingtonpost.com

AWS is “in talks” to add SpaceX’s Grok models to Bedrock, joining Anthropic, Meta, Cohere, and the OpenAI models AWS is in the process of bolting on. theregister.com

The Danish pension fund Akademikerpension decided to place SpaceX on its blacklist, barring its fund managers from purchasing SpaceX shares and deeming the company too risky for investment. gizmodo.com

American Airlines is getting Starlink Wi-Fi. theverge.com

Tesla’s chief designer says its second-generation Roadster will be built in Texas. theverge.com

Tesla says its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software is up to 10 times safer than human drivers. But the figures the company uses to support its claims don’t withstand scrutiny, and staffers who trained the technology say it isn’t close to safely delivering autonomous vehicles at scale. reuters.com

A Beijing court held its first hearing in a consumer fraud lawsuit against Tesla over its “Full Self-Driving” software, with 10 owners seeking more than 3.95 million yuan ($583,000) in damages. electrek.co

The FAA orders SpaceX to investigate the failure of its Starship V3 booster. techcrunch.com

The Verge explains why: “The SpaceX IPO is great for Elon Musk and terrible for you.” theverge.com

The Economist Asks: “Why can’t Elon Musk do for politics what he’s done for industry?” economist.com

Fortescue‘s turbine subsidiary Nabrawind has done something that was believed to be impossible: they’ve installed a full-scale, energy-producing wind turbine using a new, crane-less deployment process. electrek.co

CATL will launch a series of mass-produced sodium-ion battery products this year to capitalize on abundant raw materials and lower production costs compared to traditional lithium-ion chemistries. carnewschina.com

Canadian pipeline operator South Bow needs proof that ‌a US presidential permit is “durable” before proceeding with a partial revival of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. reuters.com

GMC has unveiled a new set of mid-size Hummer concepts, the Hummer X SUV and the Hummer X Pickup. The concepts are down one class each from the absurdly large Hummer EV SUV and Hummer EV Pickup that the company currently sells. caranddriver.com

Stellantis Canada CEO Trevor Longley says he believes his company is moving closer to finding a long-term solution for its idled assembly plant in Brampton, Ontario. autonews.com

Mitsubishi will enter the increasingly crowded US mid-size pickup segment with a new truck sourced from Nissan. autonews.com

Toyota’s pulling the plug on its new Lexus EV. nikkei.com

Kia’s EV9 has a battery problem. theverge.com

Honda has an airbag problem. reuters.com

Honda is hitting the pause button on production of the Ridgeline at its Lincoln, Alabama, manufacturing plant until 2028, when it will return with a new powertrain. usatoday.com

Rivian has a rear suspension problem. techcrunch.com

Rivian’s R2 matches the Tesla Model Y’s efficiency despite having a larger, heavier body. electrek.co

Rivian revealed that the first customers of its new R2 SUV will receive their vehicles on June 9. techcrunch.com

Slate Auto will announce pricing and take preorders for its EV on June 24. techcrunch.com

Waymo dominates autonomous vehicle registrations in the US. techcrunch.com

Robotaxi companies like Waymo and Tesla face mounting public and government scrutiny as problems surface in police reports and viral social media posts. wsj.com

Nuro may be late to the robotaxis game, but it believes it can succeed by learning from Waymo’s mistakes. theverge.com

Germans switch to EVs at record pace. autonews.com

Canadians are warming to buying EVs, including those from China, as fuel costs and vehicle affordability become larger considerations. autonews.com

The Donald’s administration issued a sweeping demand to Mexico to raise the level of regional content in North American-built cars and trucks to 82% ‌to qualify for preferential trade deal access, with 50% of that value produced in the United States. Canada was excluded from the negotiations in Mexico City. reuters.com