Ferrari Luce: After Building the Touchscreen World, Ive Designs Its Antithesis

Ferrari Luce: Ive Answers the Most Fundamental Question of Ferrari's Electric Future — With a Cockpit

On February 9, 2026, on the 27th floor of San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid, six invited media outlets — Car and Driver, WIRED, Engadget, Robb Report, Electrek, and Reuters — attended an event that didn't much resemble a car launch. No engine roar, no complete body, not even a car anyone could sit inside. Instead, cockpit components were displayed in a museum-exhibition format: the steering wheel in one spot, the air vent system in another, the seats somewhere else entirely. WIRED compared the event to a Marcel Duchamp exhibition — except the exhibits had swapped urinals for steering wheels.

But this was precisely the effect Ferrari intended.

This is step two of a three-phase progressive unveiling for Ferrari's first fully electric vehicle. In October 2025, the company revealed the electric platform in Maranello — chassis, battery pack, powertrain. This time, it was the interior design and the official name. The full exterior won't be shown until May 2026 in Italy. The cadence itself is a statement: Ferrari is in no rush. In an industry where most automakers can barely contain themselves from revealing their EVs overnight, Ferrari has chosen a rhythm closer to haute couture — lifting one veil at a time, letting anticipation become part of the narrative.

And the veil lifted this time may be the most consequential of all.

Not Elettrica. Luce.

First, the name. CEO Benedetto Vigna announced at the event that the car's official name would be "Luce" — Italian for "light," pronounced loo-chay — replacing the development codename "Elettrica." Vigna's explanation was characteristically direct: "Elettrica would have been a wrong name for our car." Ferrari does not want the powertrain to define the vehicle — electrification is a means, not an end. Electrek also noted that "Luce" carries a secondary meaning of "electricity" in Italian, a semantic double entendre that gives the brand narrative considerably more room to breathe.

Behind this renaming decision lies a question I've explored at length in the Ferrari Deep Dive Report: can Ferrari successfully "transcode" the brand DNA of "emotion" and "performance," established in the internal combustion era, into its electric products? If "Elettrica" was a technical label about a power source, "Luce" is a metaphor about vision and the road ahead. The naming itself is Ferrari's first layer of an answer.

A Five-Year Partnership in the Making

The second layer comes from a name: Jony Ive.

Ferrari Chairman John Elkann, CEO Vigna, and Chief Design Officer Flavio Manzoni began working closely with LoveFrom — the design firm co-founded by Ive and Marc Newson — five years ago, collaborating on "every dimension" of the Luce cockpit. LoveFrom currently has approximately 60 employees, with prior projects including a $60,000 Linn Sondek LP12 turntable — but Luce, in sheer physical scale and project complexity, is likely their largest undertaking to date. Notably, LoveFrom was acquired by OpenAI last year for $6.5 billion, and Ive's role is becoming increasingly multifaceted.

Ferrari and LoveFrom core team (left to right: Vigna, Elkann, Manzoni, Ive, Newson)

source: Ferrari/media outlets

Robb Report placed this collaboration within the grand arc of Ferrari's brand history, drawing parallels to the iconic partnerships with carrozzerie like Touring, Pininfarina, and Scaglietti that produced the 166 MM, 250 GT, and 275 GTB — calling it "the most important collaboration of this century so far." The phrasing may lean toward the hyperbolic, but the depth of the partnership is genuinely unusual: Manzoni initially wanted to make Luce's design "completely different from any other Ferrari," and when Elkann proposed bringing in Ive and Newson, Manzoni's skepticism gave way to embrace. He ultimately concluded that LoveFrom introduced "a universe of form that is totally different."

In my earlier analysis of the Agnelli family inheritance dispute, I discussed Elkann's influence over Ferrari's strategic direction as Chairman. The decision to bring in Ive is a tangible expression of that influence — and it speaks to how seriously Elkann and management are taking the electrification transition. As Electrek put it: "They didn't just hire a design consultancy, they gave Ive's team creative direction from the outset. For a brand as heritage-obsessed as Ferrari, that's remarkable trust."

A Former Apple Chief Design Officer's Rebellion

Then came the most unexpected part.

In this car, Ive did something he could almost never have done at Apple: he took an unequivocal stand against touchscreens. Not because the technology is immature, but out of something approaching a philosophical conviction. His words deserve to be quoted in full:

"I never understood why, if the power source was electric, why does it follow that the interface be digital? I think that's a bizarre and lazy assumption."

"We used touch on the phone to solve a problem — of not enough real estate to hold all the needed buttons. In a car, that's just the wrong technology."

"When everything is flat, you stop absorbing the information."

WIRED astutely identified the contradiction at the heart of this stance: Ive is critiquing the very world he helped create. He is the man who helped build an empire where people spend their days doom-scrolling on glass slabs — and he is simultaneously designing hardware for OpenAI. But perhaps that is precisely why his judgment carries weight here. As WIRED documented, Ive seemed aware of the tension and expressed something resembling a desire for atonement: "We've become more and more isolated in our digital worlds. There is a growing desire to not be isolated, disconnected, whether it's from each other or the real physical world."

Ferrari's own communications were equally forthright, stating that the design "defied the convention that electric cars must be dominated by large touchscreens." In an era where Tesla has established the minimalist large-screen as the default EV interior paradigm, this is a pointed choice.

Aluminum, Glass, Leather — and Virtually Zero Plastic

Ive's philosophy manifests in the Luce cockpit through a bluntly simple material rule, one that multiple Ferrari employees repeated throughout the event: "You don't touch anything but aluminum, glass, or leather." The only plastic components in the entire cabin are a handful of gears inside the control panel.

The aluminum parts use 100% recycled material, CNC-milled from solid billets, and are available in three anodized color options. Corning Gorilla Glass runs throughout the entire cockpit — over 40 glass components covering buttons, screens, console housings, and more. Ive called glass a "truthful material." The Engadget reporter couldn't resist a self-aware aside: "All that sure does sound like I'm writing about a new iPhone." The observation itself says everything — Luce's design language genuinely evokes the aluminum-glass-rounded-corner aesthetic of Apple products, yet it has been infused with an entirely different soul, one that insists on tactile and physical connection.

Ferrari Luce materials and craftsmanship detail

source: Ferrari

Even the seat rails have been precisely shaped and anodized to match the overall interior. The air conditioning vents feature aluminum louvers that flip open and shut with a satisfying "snick" when the control is rotated — the WIRED reporter became so engrossed in toggling them back and forth that a Ferrari representative eventually guided them away from the display. WIRED's summation of the tactile experience: "Everything feels satisfyingly clicky or twisty."

The Steering Wheel: 19 Components Paying Homage to the 1950s

The Luce steering wheel draws inspiration from the classic three-spoke Nardi wooden steering wheels of the 1950s and 1960s. Ive mentioned owning a 1950 Ferrari Europa, from which he directly drew structural inspiration. The wheel comprises 19 CNC-machined parts, all manufactured from recycled aluminum, and weighs 400 grams less than a standard Ferrari steering wheel.

Ferrari Luce steering wheel, front view

source: Ferrari

The two side control modules adopt an F1-style layout: one side houses the EV mode selector (Range / Tour / Performance), while the other features the manettino driving mode dial (Ice / Wet / Dry / Sport / ESC off), suspension settings, and wiper controls. All buttons are anodized aluminum, embedded within black glass modules. On the reverse side, volume and track control knobs flank torque distribution paddles — which Ferrari says deliver a sense of driving engagement akin to gear shifting.

Ferrari Luce manettino driving mode close-up

source: Ferrari

One detail that particularly charmed the Engadget reporter: a tiny wiper control knob at the upper right of the steering wheel houses a miniature convex lens that magnifies the current setting indicator below — displayed on a custom Samsung OLED panel running at 200ppi. It is the kind of thoughtfulness you would only notice through actual use, and a concrete manifestation of what Ive described as "common sense, but something that's bizarrely ignored."

The Binnacle: Where Physical Needles Meet OLED Innovation

The instrument cluster (binnacle) is fixed to the steering column, adjusting in sync with the wheel's position — tilt and telescopic — ensuring optimal viewing angles regardless of seat adjustment. Multiple outlets flagged this specifically as a design highlight.

But the real story is the display technology. Ferrari and Samsung Display co-developed a two-layer OLED stacking solution that Electrek called a "world first": the lower layer renders speed, virtual RPM, odometer, and G-force data, while the upper layer features three physical cutouts, each covered by an independent convex glass lens. Sandwiched between the two OLED layers sits a physical aluminum needle — functioning as a pseudo-tachometer — visible through the upper cutouts.

WIRED described a particularly striking visual effect: when the car is off, the screens go dark, and the aluminum needle floats in a black void. When the system powers on, the screens illuminate the needle, making it glow. Only the extreme thinness of OLED technology makes this kind of physical layering possible. Car and Driver noted that the multi-layer presentation makes instrumentation information "both more interesting and easier to parse when driving quickly." Robb Report observed that the design pays homage to the classic Veglia and Jaeger gauges found in mid-century Ferraris.

The Center Console and Multigraph: Where Digital and Analog Coexist

The center panel is a 10.12-inch Samsung OLED touchscreen — yes, the "anti-touchscreen" car does have one. But the way it exists is fundamentally different.

The panel sits on a ball-and-socket joint, allowing it to rotate toward either the driver or passenger. The aluminum handle at the bottom serves a triple function: a grip for rotating the panel, a palm rest during operation, and what Ive called a "datum" — a fixed reference point so the driver's hand always knows where it is, making it possible to find physical controls without looking. The panel features multiple precision perforations through which thick physical toggles and a glass volume knob protrude, enabling touchscreen and physical controls to coexist on the same surface. Ive's commentary on this was characteristically blunt: "When you look at this, you are not wondering, 'How many layers deep am I going to have to go to find something to make my bottom warm?'"

Ferrari Luce center panel, full view

source: Ferrari

In the upper-right corner sits the component that perhaps best captures Ive's ambition — the Multigraph , a multi-function dial that toggles between four modes: clock, chronograph, compass, and launch control. The background is a digital display, but three anodized aluminum hands are driven by three independent motors and precision gears, each capable of fully independent movement. Ive was especially proud of this: "This has never been done before. There's never been hands that move independently of each other, there's always a relationship." When you switch modes, the analog hands reposition accordingly — a rare and elegant conversation between digital screens and mechanical motion.

Ferrari Luce Multigraph in clock mode

source: Ferrari

The Start-Up Ritual: A Choreography of Light from Key to Shifter

The Luce key fob resembles a miniature iPhone, crafted from Corning Fusion5 Glass, with an E Ink display on the back — the first use of E Ink technology in the automotive industry. By default, it glows Ferrari's signature yellow.

To start the car, you magnetically dock the key into a recess in the center console and press down. The yellow E Ink gradually fades to black. Simultaneously, the glass top of the shifter illuminates in yellow, the Ferrari crest flashes into view, and the instruments come alive. Ferrari calls it a "carefully choreographed sequence." Ive's description: "You have this sense that it is really bringing life to the rest of the system." WIRED likened it to "a serum being injected into the car's body, awakening it from slumber."

Ferrari Luce glass shifter close-up

source: Ferrari

The shifter itself is a miniature work of art. Glass, roughly the size of a shot glass, it glides between precision metal gates. Its top surface features 13,000 laser-drilled holes that diffuse light — each hole just half the width of a human hair. Ive revealed that the team spent approximately four months solely fine-tuning the tactile feel of moving the shifter through P, R, N, and D.

The Trade-Off Between Precision and Rawness

Media reception has been broadly positive, though not without sober observations.

Engadget offered what may be the most representative assessment: "It's far and away the most exciting and fresh interior I've seen outside of the ultra-rare machines like the $4 million Bugatti Tourbillon." But the next sentence added essential nuance: "It's so clinically precise and refined that it lacks the rough and raw feel that typifies many classic Ferraris."

This is precisely the core tension Luce must navigate. Four motors, over 1,000 horsepower, 0–60 mph in under 2.5 seconds — performance specs are not the issue. A 122 kWh battery, 330 miles of European-standard range — range is not the issue either. The real question is: when everything is this precise, this meticulous, this correct , does the unpredictable, adrenaline-spiking rawness of a classic Ferrari still survive?

A curb weight approaching 5,100 pounds will make Luce Ferrari's heaviest vehicle ever, surpassing even the Purosangue SUV. The four-door, four-seat layout also departs sharply from the traditional Prancing Horse silhouette. An expected price tag exceeding €500,000 (approximately $535,000) firmly positions this in the ultra-luxury segment — as Electrek observed, Luce isn't competing with the Tesla Model S or Porsche Taycan. It exists to prove that "an electric Ferrari can still feel like a Ferrari."

Returning to the Core Question

At the October 2025 Capital Market Day, Ferrari made a decision that blindsided the market: it halved its 2030 pure EV sales mix target from 40% to just 20% (the new breakdown: 40% ICE / 40% Hybrid / 20% EV). The stock plunged roughly 15% that day. The market read conservatism and retreat. But viewed through the lens of Luce's details, this looks less like retreat and more like an intensely deliberate quality-first strategy — rather than rushing multiple EV models to market for volume, Ferrari chose to first think through and execute with complete conviction what "an electric Ferrari" should actually be.

Every detail of the Luce cockpit — from the Nardi steering wheel homage to the Veglia gauge echoes, from the CNC aluminum to the material honesty of Gorilla Glass, from the physical toggles to the Multigraph's independently moving hands — is answering the same question: can Ferrari's brand DNA survive electrification?

Ive's answer is not "yes" or "no." It is: "That depends on whether you have the courage to refuse shortcuts." Touchscreens are a shortcut. Giant displays are a shortcut. Software-defining everything is a shortcut. Ive chose the harder, slower, more expensive path — using physical precision to express emotional density. This aligns seamlessly with the strategic philosophy Ferrari articulated at the CMD: not pursuing the fastest growth, but pursuing the most irreplaceable value. Since its founding, Ferrari has produced a grand total of 330,000 cars — what some competitors manufacture in a single year. Luce exists not to change the order of magnitude of that number, but to ensure that every new Ferrari added still deserves the Prancing Horse on its nose.

Near the end of the event, Ive offered two sentences that may be the best lens through which to understand Luce — and Ferrari's electric future:

"At the end of a project, there are two products. There's what you've made, and there's what you've learned."

"I love learning more than I love being right."

Ferrari Luce cockpit, driver's perspective — full view

source: Ferrari

The complete exterior will be revealed in May 2026 in Italy. That is when we will see the full shape of this answer.

Luce exterior preview

Source: CAR & Driver

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