“Mom, can we have Ferrari?” asks the child. He is led away and told they have Ferrari at home, but said Ferrari is unfortunately the all-electric Luce. Jokes aside, though, the controversy surrounding the brand’s first EV is off the charts, and it’s not hard to see why people are so outraged.
Were it not for those prancing horse badges, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Luce is just another generic EV with very little (if any) personality to speak of. That may sound harsh, but it’s what you get when you build something with none of the character people expect from a Ferrari. And, apparently, the one to blame for it might be Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The Man Who Gave Us Amazon Also Gave Us The Luce – Kind Of
Italian news agency ANSA had a chat with Ferrari Executive Chairman John Elkann not long ago, gaining some interesting insights on how the Luce came to be. Elkann went back to a conversation he had with Bezos in July 2016, saying that was the moment when the idea of an electric Ferrari first arose.
“I don’t know anything about cars, but I really know a lot about innovation,” Bezos told Elkann. “I think you need to think seriously about building an electric Ferrari.” That suggestion seemed inconsequential at the time, but it planted a seed in Elkann’s mind and he eventually found himself giving it some genuine thought. Many years later, it resulted in what is widely regarded as the most controversial Ferrari ever made.
How Did We Go From Abstract Notion To Reality?
It took a while for the idea of an electric Ferrari to effectively morph into the Luce, with the company’s plans to build an EV only surfacing in 2022. From there, another four years would pass until the actual model saw the light of day on May 25, 2026, then came all the drama, uproar, and memes. Seriously, though, check those out if you haven’t already – they’ll give you a good chuckle.
A full decade after that fateful conversation between Elkann and Bezos, we got our first glimpse at what the electric future might look like at Ferrari without even knowing where its EV aspirations really started. Well, now we know this little piece of automotive lore, but it somehow doesn’t make the Luce any easier to digest.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Abstractly speaking, the advice from Jeff Bezos was sound, as every manufacturer needs to prepare for the age of electrification and it doesn’t hurt to get a head start. So, we can’t really say Bezos was entirely to blame here, because the problem has a lot more to do with Ferrari’s execution rather than the initial idea.
What’s truly puzzling is that it decided to reinvent the wheel instead of building an EV in the same spirit as its beloved internal combustion supercars. But with all the public outcry now serving as feedback, Ferrari definitely knows what not to do with its next electric model.
Source: ANSA
