The Problem with the Ferrari Luce EV Offers a Lesson for Every Leader

Look at those tactile buttons and knobs. For cruise control and wipers. And the flip switches for Infotainment / climate.

The "LUNCH" mode button that you have to pull and then shows a glowing ring. Feels 90s science fiction. I wonder if I can 3D print a replica, not sure for what yet, but I want it. It's literally inspiring for me.

The outside though :(

Ferrari sells dreams. That's not a car anybody will dream about.

Or it look like a modern successor to the Pontiac Aztek.

I can only imagine what the Italian designers have to say about it…

Marc Newson is also on the team, and there striking similarities to (t)his 27 year old concept car[1]: https://marc-newson.com/ford-021c-concept-car/

Regarding the UI: This is miles ahead of any other digital cockpit made by Ferrari. Also pretty good overall.

[1] via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48271629#48278841

I don’t know if there is a psychological term for that phenomena in design but I think it’s related with mere-exposure effect [1]. A design that stands out and is uncommon, will evolve a deeper relationship over time with the observer than a well-polished predictable design.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-exposure_effect

That's a paradigm shift for Ferrari which has always been associated with exclusive performance and beauty - and the removal of that USP is why it is seeing such pushback.

I get that they think about going away from the combustion engine, but as a manufacturer of insanely expensive, loud and overpowerd sports car this doesn't make sense.

It's like if I as a software dev would be worried about the future market and suddenly advertise myself as a psychologist in search for clients.

Jony Ive is a brilliant example of the role selection plays in evolutionary processes. It is the sorting method that punishes bad ideas with death and allows good ideas to survive. After Jobs passed away the selection mechanism that only let Ive's good ideas pop through disappeared. It is popular to accuse Jobs of credit hoarding, but in that relationship he was the talent. Ive just someone who could generate ideas for him to choose from.

More than a mutation agent, less than a good designer.

What makes Ive bad for Ferrari is that he operates under the delusion that he is a great designer. This makes him arrogant. Arrogance paired with mediocrity isn't the best of combinations. And Ive sans Jobs is mediocre on a good day. But his myth is persistent.

Ferrari has a long history. Ive completely ignored it and designed a mediocre bar of soap.

If he did so out of an abundance of arrogance, or simply because he actually doesn't understand Ferrari is unclear. But it is an undeniable fact that the car neither looks like a Ferrari, nor is it a particularly elegant car. If you saw it without knowing what it was you could be forgiven for thinking this was a more modestly priced asian mass market car.

For admirers of a brand that aspires to make iconic cars this is, of course, a disappointment.

I did like the instrument cluster though. It dials back the somewhat childish and gaudy displays that sports car manufacturers have offered for the past couple of decades and replaces it with something that is more tastefully retro. A lot of older Italian cars had beautiful dashboards that give off strong race car vibes. (for instance the Bertone-designed Alfa Romeo GTV from the late 60s and early 70s - those had gorgeous instrument clusters)

This is just gross incompetence all around.

Above all, Ive had an ethical responsibility to protect his clients from harming themselves by refusing the commission.

I get the history with Ferrari cars and their aesthetic and all.

But it looks like what one would expect from the man who designed iPhone.

From some point on, people buy stories, experiences, luxury. Gadgets don't provide the same experience.

From manufacturing luxury vehicles they are now manufacturing gadgets.

If someone is interested in buying a tablet on wheels, he can shop Tesla or Xiaomi, they don't need a Ferrari.

This is a brand that permanently banned Paris Hilton for painting her Ferrari pink, Kim Kardashian for modifying her 458, and Justin Bieber for wrapping his in neon blue.

Where does that fall on the line between your product, your rules and I bought the thing, I own it, I paint it blue? My gut reaction was that this should totally not be legal, neither telling people how to paint their car, nor telling them what [not] to do with it, or to which places they can take it, seriously? And also banning people from buying one to enforce this.

Ferarri took the bold action to not be tied with it's past.

One of their director explicitly said they used an external design company to intentionally to avoid a minor refinement of its ICE cars.

They knew how this car will be perceived, if only because surely there must have been fierce internal resistance.

I recognize Ferrari is one of our most iconic and exported brands.

Also I could not give any less fucks about the new Ferrari, the fact that it's ugly, the fact that it's probably going to tank or be a hit. They and their products are so detached from the lives of 99.9999999% of the population.

Also, what do you expect from a guy that used to design computer mice.