Ferrari’s first electric vehicle has been ruthlessly mocked online, with the former boss of the luxury supercar maker even publicly condemning the new model. The £474,320 Luce is also the Italian manufacturer’s first five-seater and was designed alongside the LoveFrom agency founded by former Apple design chief Sir Jony Ive. The model’s saloon-like design is a far cry from the sleek styling usually associated with the brand and has immediately proved divisive among car enthusiasts. Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari chairman from 1991 to 2014, told Italian media: 'If I had to say what I really think, I would be hurting Ferrari. This is surely a car that at least the Chinese won't copy from us.' Shares in the car maker fell more than 8 per cent on the Milan stock market and more than 5 per cent in New York yesterday.

And responses to the new model were brutal on social media, with one comment reading: 'Ferrari just killed their brand just like Jaguar did. This is straight to the junkyard trash.' Digitally altered images of the new car made their rounds on X, with some pictured depicting the EV as a vacuum cleaner, while others posted photos of banged-up tin vehicles alongside the caption: 'Look at that, I spot that brand-new Ferrari Luce right here nearby already!' Others referenced the design to one seen poorly drawn by Homer in the American sitcom The Simpsons, and another image created by AI showed the car crashing into the ground in front of Italy's famous Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Ferrari chief executive Benedetto Vigna said in Rome that the Luce, Italian for 'light', has taken half a decade to develop, despite supercar rivals like Lamborghini and Porsche having scaled back on EV plans due to low demand and Chinese competition. He said: 'We are convinced that a company demonstrates its leadership when it has the courage to dare and to take on the challenge of new technologies. Ferrari Luce was born precisely from this challenge, offering our unprecedented vision of electrification.' John Elkann, president of the iconic brand, also showed off the new model to Pope Leo at the pontiff's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday. 'Is this the first four-door Ferrari?' Leo asked Elkann. 'The first five-seater,' Elkann replied. The Pope sat in the driver´s seat of the Luce, with Ferrari test driver Raffaele De Simone kneeling beside him and explaining the steering wheel´s controls in English. 'We are not simply unveiling a new car, we are inaugurating a chapter that turns our vision into reality, strengthening Ferrari´s tradition of anticipating and shaping the future,' Elkann said in a statement.

The Luce offers 1,000 horsepower, can hit 60mph in 2.5 seconds and has a range of more than 329 miles. It also has four electric motors - one for each wheel. Ferrari also said that all of the components are made in-house, so that the car can be repaired by the company well into the future, protecting the Luce's resale value. The company, which also sells hybrid electric vehicles, has invested billions of euros in electrification, but dropped its goal for 40 per cent of its lineup to be fully electric by 2030 down to 20 per cent. Internet commenters and auto critics responded negatively, saying the Luce strays from the brand's usual aesthetic. And as automakers look to appeal to mainstream buyers with less expensive EVs, another luxury offering seems particularly challenging. 'The internet has made up its mind, hasn´t it, if you´ve seen any of the comments on it. And it´s not universally loved from the outside,' said Matt Prior, editor-at-large of UK-based auto review site Autocar. Prior said the Luce's interior is well done, but that the vehicle doesn't 'shout Ferrari.'

'The big thing here is there is no obvious place where the engine goes because there isn´t one, the battery goes under the floor, which makes the car higher naturally, and loads of manufacturers have got to come to terms with how they do that,' Prior said. 'That makes them look taller. That makes the look less sleek,' he added. 'For a company whose entire history is based on making dynamic-looking, sleek cars, it´s maybe harder for Ferrari to get around than it is for other manufacturers.' The Luce looks like a 'mix between a Honda Accord EV and Tesla 3', wrote Pierre-Olivier Essig, the head of research at AIR Capital, in a note for clients reported by Bloomberg. 'We are lost in translation with Ferrari's new strategy'. But not all commentators reacted negatively to the new car, with one post saying: 'Absolute masterclass in design. Ferrari just unveiled the breathtaking LUCE concept, and it is a total game changer.' Ferrari's chief design officer, Flavio Manzoni, said in an interview with YouTuber Cleo Abram that critics are part of the innovation process. He acknowledged the concept of an electric Ferrari with a new design is 'polarising' but believes people will appreciate it in the months to come.

One commenter on Drive's reveal coverage this week called it 'different but stunning', while another said 'it's pretty cool,' calling the button-heavy interior – also designed with Ive and Newson's design firm LoveFrom – 'phenomenal'. 'I love it: It's a bold departure for Ferrari, but is as modern and stylish as any four-door, five-seater EV could ever be,' said another user. Ferrari is launching the EV amid a volatile and uncertain global market for the powertrain. Even with policies around the world encouraging EV adoption - including in the European Union, which mandates a 90 per cent reduction in tailpipe emissions by 2035 - several global automakers have dialled back their electrification plans, and many have lost billions on the technology. Electric car sales hit 20 million globally last year - marking one in four new cars sold worldwide as electric, according to the International Energy Agency. Sales increased by more than 30 per cent in Europe in 2025, the IEA says.

But the European car market is becoming increasingly competitive as Chinese auto brands enter the market, attracting consumers with advanced technology at lower prices. EV adoption remains uncertain, particularly in the US, where policy changes by the current administration have impacted the market. Electric Vehicle interest has increased since the onset of the US-Iran war, but experts say that interest doesn't always translate to actual sales. 'The whole electric car market is not really where it could be,' Prior said. 'And so much of it is legislation-driven rather than natural demand-driven.'