Ferrari’s first EV arrived this week. So did a Ferrari-branded trash can. Only one was intentional.
Ferrari handed its first-ever electric car to Jony Ive, the man who designed the iPhone. The internet responded by turning it into a vacuum cleaner.
This is, in a sentence, what happened.
The Ferrari Luce costs $640,000, makes 1,035 horsepower, and looks, according to the collected wisdom of automotive media, like “a Honda Accord EV with trust issues.” TechRadar’s headline read: “Somehow worse than I could ever have imagined.” Autoevolution called it “Ferrari’s Biggest Design Misfire in History.” Aftermath.site went with “Look How They Massacred My Ferrari,” which is technically an opinion but doesn’t feel like one.
The memes arrived within hours: AI-generated renderings of the Luce’s smooth, gloss-black silhouette recast as a Ferrari vacuum cleaner and — God help us — a Ferrari trash can, complete with the prancing horse badge and LED accents. The trash can, honestly, looks good. Ferrari should be worried about that.
The Jony Ive Problem
Here’s the paradox: Jony Ive’s greatest strengths are exactly what went wrong.
Clean lines, minimal surfaces, no unnecessary detail — these principles made the iPhone feel like the future. Applied to a Ferrari, they make it feel like a very fast household appliance.
Critics compared the Luce to the Apple Magic Mouse (famously impossible to use while charging), the iPhone 5c in light blue, and a “luxury toaster.” Former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo piled on, noting archly that “the project has already been delayed more than two years.” In Ferrari circles, that’s the equivalent of RSVPing yes and then not showing up.
Ferrari’s stock fell 6-8% on reveal day. Electrek ran the headline: “Ferrari stock plunges 6% on Luce EV backlash — don’t panic!” The words “don’t panic” in a financial headline are, historically, a sign that panic is warranted.
In Fairness
The interior is apparently beautiful. The cockpit — also Jony Ive — is minimal and considered and genuinely lovely. Critics who hated the outside mostly liked the inside.
But nobody buys a Ferrari to close their eyes.
The Luce: 1,035 horsepower, 329-mile range, $640,000, and the most accidentally compelling vacuum cleaner design of 2026.
Enzo is, reportedly, spinning.
Sources: Teslarati · Autoevolution · Aftermath · The Autopian · TechRadar · Electrek · Fast Company · HotHardware · Cult of Mac