This Ferrari should be a Volkswagen

It may be the NBA playoffs but right now Ferrari is getting eaten up more than anyone else. Whether they own a Ferrari or have a picture of a Testarossa on their wall, fans in Ferrari-verse are frothy about Luce, the first electric car. According to the most popular Edge comments: “Looks like the Polestar had a one-night stand with the Prius.”

In any case. The competition should steal this design.

Luce looks amazing because Ferrari is not asking to be removed from the rim. Its most popular varieties, like the 1987 F40are defined by solid angles. This makes the gap between Luce and legacy even greater. But look past Luce’s cover to find the compelling story within.

There are many arguments about and against everything-is-a-touchscreen modern car. The new Ferrari design, created by Jony Ive and Marc Newson’s design agency, LoveFromit’s a lot of evidence that there may be a happy middle ground – perhaps the Goldilocks zone of the car’s interior that best integrates emotional experiences. I can picture Jeff Bridges inside Tron: Legacy looking at this thing and saying again: “it’s biodigital jazz, man.”

I’m a big fan of physical changes to screens because when done right, they’re cool, efficient, and fun as hell to use. Limiting any type of installation to the same type of press on a giant that sits inside a car feels clumsy and unwieldy. I recently saw a large 56-inch Mercedes EQS EV “Hyperscreen” and I thought I was inside the Las Vegas Sphere game. There’s something different about the Hyperscreen and the other kids in Tesla’s design line, as if Grok stepped back to imagine “the perfect car of the future” and made that slide a reality. The screen may be perfect, but the switch is alive.

Luce is full of spiritual body. Just look at this:

Any physical changes to this item are to beg affected. It’s a strange world, full of rotating jars, buttons, and toggle switches. There are even differences between each type. And they’re all wrapped up in a tight inner hug that makes these little things shine.

The beauty of modesty abounds. The back of Luce’s passenger compartment has inputs and outputs that seem to fit perfectly with the digital display. And just look at the center-dashboard display and the handle. Chef’s Kiss.

Elsewhere, the process is moving slowly. LoveFrom’s brand of car, “LF Maranello,” is interesting in its looks and identity, more practical than fun. (Not that such beauty is always a bad thing; I’m looking at you, vintage Porsche Carrera.)

And, yes, of course they are not all new territory. There have been many innovations and doodads in various cars over the years, including my personal favorite: the convertible in my old Mini Cooper. I always try to get them to respond effectively even if I don’t have a reason to. I don’t remember what they actually are he saidbut I still remember how he felt.

But there are also many switches that suck. The all-purpose steering wheel in my Mazda CX-5 didn’t feel right or intuitive and was more distracting than if the car’s display was on. Its vague, unintelligible “click” was awkward – as if it were stuck in a slot between the wheel and the button.

Unexpected buttons, like the ones that open the doors in Teslas, are so cursed that they inspired a cartoon. Saturday Night Live:

(To be fair, the Luce also has similar buttons for opening the doors.)

There are also buttons out there that aren’t really buttons – empty space savers in a traffic jam that annoy you endlessly, they whisper”You have not paid for the game. This can be seen as a preview of the changes: say, on the mobile version of the iPhone on top of the iPod’s clickwheel.

And then there are the buttons in purgatory. The popular push button burner is spread across the middle feel premium and casualwhich means there is no better way to drive.

But Luce makes a good case for his take – enough confirm veteran analyst Tim Stevens that “it is one of the world’s largest economies.” It does not over deliver in any way. There aren’t many displays, and there aren’t many changes. It looks mature yet playful – a fun combination. (Caveat emptor: I’ve never done it to touch these things, so I have to be down for a definite decision.)

A car that starts at $640,000 is, well, average there is none. And this may be one of the reasons why the whole project seems to be unchanged after Ive destroyed it nearly 30 years at Apple making common products that are used by billions of people.

It’s not that Ive should always focus on creating products for the market (or creating products ever – what a job already!). But it’s a shame that the best ideas in so many impossible machines look like they could be in a very common car. I just wonder what would have happened if Ive’s company had helped relaunch something like the Volkswagen Beetle, or blessed an entry-level EV with the Luce language. Currently, there are many eyebrow lifting services out there, such as These ideas from VW Group’s Scout Motors.

Then again, maybe all this attention will work in Ive’s favor. LoveFrom has a lot of money from Ferrari to boldly put something that will be licensed or copied by others. Everyone is talking about it. And now I’m eager to see if this rare Ferrari look can be emulated by rival carmakers – something that could turn a fleeting controversy into an enduring legend.