Former Apple Design Chief Jony Ive’s First Car Is a €550,000 Ferrari
At Endgadget, Tim Stevens writes:
If the wild, Jony Ive- and Marc Newson-designed interior for the Ferrari Luce had you intrigued and wanting more, here’s the payoff. After committing to build an EV last year, ignoring those earlier statements that it would never happen, Ferrari has finally given me a look at the entire finished product. As big a departure as that interior is from Ferrari’s current suite of sports cars, the exterior is an even bigger step, one that not everyone is going to love.
Whether you love it or hate it, you can likewise attribute Luce’s exterior styling to LoveFrom, the design house founded by Jony Ive in 2019. Though this is LoveFrom’s first full car design, it’s actually Newson’s second, following on the Ford 021C concept from 1999. That vehicle has a very different shape from the Luce, but it does feature doors that open the same way, and I’m picking up similar vibes from both.
I’m not enough of a car guy—or rich enough—to care much about this new Ferrari’s design, but I’m sure it was fun for Jony Ive and Marc Newson to work on. The fact that they’re helping create a €550,000 automobile makes me all the happier that Ive is no longer designing Apple products “for the rest of us.” Here’s hoping Apple’s current design team can bring back more of the everyday playfulness that permeated many of the company’s earlier products.
I’m sure everyone has seen this:
The comment section on the Engadget article is almost universally negative, and harshly so.
The upside-down mouse pic is not too far off the mark, and the interior looks like the vehicle is intended as a CarPlay accessory.
Everyday playfulness, yes, but thank goodness Apple already has a name, otherwise they might be influenced by Jony to come up with something as banal and unimaginative as ‘LoveFrom’.
So if this is an electric car, why does it have what looks very much like a gas cap at the rear of the side shown in the picture?
I assume that’s where the charge port is located. It wouldn’t be aerodynamic, and would be pretty ugly if the port wasn’t covered.
Honestly, just how many of these models are expected to be manufactured and sold?
What a waste of talent.
And it is fugly too boot! Does NOT look like a Ferrari should look.
I fully agree with Adam that it is a blessing Jony Ive has no influence at Apple any more so that design does not prevail over function any more.
I do like what they’ve done with the interior, though. There are real dials and controls and buttons and an analog clock; it’s not all touch-screen controlled, like everyone else is doing these days.
I agree. The blend between LCD screens that display what physical buttons do looks amazing – and expensive to do. I hope cheaper carmakers eventually do that.
It’s all about perception.
Imagine that this announcement and this vehicle had nothing to do with Ferrari at all. Most of the haters would have nothing to say if it were the Apple car. It looks like an Apple product. Just not a Ferrari.
I think that’s really the heart of the criticism. There’s a cliché that the most valuable asset for many companies is its brand. Nothing about the vehicle says “Ferrari.” Even the logo feels out of place on that vehicle, like a teenager putting a Lamborghini sticker on his first car.
For people who want an electric vehicle, it’s fine.
For people who want an Apple-flavored vehicle, it’s fine.
For people who want a Ferrari, it’s…not.
100% agree with this.
but the same applies to the jaguar suv and the porsche suv and the maserati suv and obscenely, the bloated lotus suv. yet people with more money than taste lap this garbage up. meanwhile a great sportscar brand is tarnished.
(lotus owner – one of the last of the “add lightness” cars)
It looks like Jony Ive designed a Tesla.
Nope! I tried. It still looks ugly.