Ferrari’s upcoming Luce electric car with interior by Jony Ive – image credit: Ferrari
Jony Ive’s interior for the upcoming Ferrari Luce electric vehicle is usually well thought out, but it’s dividing car fans. Now Ferrari’s CEO has spoken out about the decision not to use in-house designers.
Ferrari is working to drum up interest in its first-ever electric car ahead of a full reveal expected in May. It started with the unveiling of Jony Ive and Marc Newsom’s interior – and that got Ferrari some attention it might not have been grateful for.
Some Ferrari fans question why the company had to turn to LoveFrom, Ive’s company, in the first place. Others are simply horrified by the results – the vast majority AppleInsider forum comments are negative.
“Wow, that’s ugly,” says one, while others ask “Does it ride like a mouse with a puck?”
There are more positive comments, such as one saying, “Wow, this is really elegant and quite gorgeous.” And one single note is just caution: “It looks pretty generic, but I applaud the return of more physical and tactile controls.”
Ferrari’s reasons for choosing Ive
Now the BBC Top Gear magazine published an interview about Luca with Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna. This appears to have been done before reactions to the interior were known, but Vigna is still pressed as to why he used Ive.
“You look around to see who has done a good job in terms of user interface,” Vigna said. “I also worked with them at Apple.
Vigna doesn’t mean he worked at Apple. Rather, he was with STMicroelectronics for more than 20 years – an Apple supplier that was involved in the Apple Pencil, among other things. He left there to become CEO of Ferrari in 2021 and says the company has already talked about using LoveFrom.
L-R: Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna, Ferrari Chairman John Elkann, Ferrari CDO Flavio Manzoni, Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson — image credit: Ferrari
“John (Elkann, executive chairman) actually asked me about LoveFrom when we were talking about the Ferrari CEO position,” he continued. “We’re talking about a new kind of car, a new kind of technology, so I think it’s good to work with them.”
What Ferrari wanted from Ive
It was actually Elkann who brought LoveFrom on board with the electric car plans. But Vigna also insisted that Ferrari has always sought “open innovation” with many partners.
“If you want to break the idea that electric means digital and too many screens, which is too difficult for the user,” he said, “then work with people who have experience with that.”
“We focus on what we have control over and what we are committed to,” continued Vigna. “We believe that making an electric car is important because we are a leading luxury company, and if we want to continue to be a leader, we need to show that we are not afraid to embrace change.”
What Ferrari lacked
Despite Ferrari having its own chief designer in Flavio Manzoni, Vigna says the whole subject of design was new to him as CEO. With his background in engineering and technology, he saw design as just style.
“Personally, I wasn’t that immersed in design,” says Vigna. “I got that completely wrong.
“Working on this collaboration made me appreciate the value of industrial design,” he continued. “What I learned is that design has the same depth as any other discipline.
So despite Ferrari’s history of designing luxury cars, design under the Vigna has a new impetus as a way to differentiate the company – and maintain its status as a luxury brand.
What LoveFrom Ferrari brings
By bringing Jony Ive and Marc Newson to LoveFrom, Ferrari gets world-class designers. However, it also acquires the firms of world-class designers with an extremely high profile.
Just look at the interest generated by the reveal of the car’s interior – not the whole car, just its interior. Ferrari made headlines thanks to this collaboration.
Maybe it was hoping for something more positive, but in terms of getting attention, working with Ive to launch this car is already a gigantic success.
The Ferrari Luce focuses on physical controls more than digital screens — image credit: Ferrari
This is perhaps especially true right now, when the entire automotive industry is undergoing more change than ever. No car company can ignore the transition to electric vehicles, but it’s equally hard to stand out from every company making the same move.
So, quite apart from the real design benefits of using Jony Ive, Ferrari bought a spotlight. It will not be missed by anyone, certainly in the automotive industry, that Ferrari is launching its first ever electric vehicle.
This is not to reduce LoveFrom’s work to the status of advertising. While reactions have been extreme so far, this is a case where those opinions may change once people get to drive the Ferrari Luce.
And if not, then they may change when — inevitably — other automakers copy what Jony Ive has done here.
Ferrari receives the kind of criticism Apple would expect for its Apple Car. But Ferrari completed their project, while Apple abandoned theirs.