‘How can you have a Ferrari without any vroom?’: electric model shocks owners’ club | Automotive industry
For for passionate enthusiasts, Ferraris are not just cars but also works of art. They say the sensation evoked by its classic red curves is like standing in front of a Michelangelo sculpture, while the sound of an engine revving is like listening to the music of Giuseppe Verdi or Giacomo Puccini.
That’s why the image of the Luce EV, the Italian automaker’s first fully electric car introduced this week, stunned many fans.
“I’m not denying the fact that it’s electric; it’s a generational step that needs to be taken,” said Fabio Barone, president of the Italy-based Passione Rossa Ferrari owners club. “But the design was a complete shock; it shook the foundations of our legendary Ferrari.”
Barone bought his first Ferrari at the age of 27 and has gone one step forward ever since. several world records He is not alone in his reaction regarding speed. Among the manufacturer’s loyal fan base is the five-seater blue Luce, which in Italian means: lightled to widespread skepticism. Internet commenters said it looked like a Nissan or even the Fiat Multipla, whose 1990s people mover was crowned the world’s ugliest car. More derogatory memes compared it to a vacuum cleaner or rubber clogs.
While Italian deputy prime minister and minister of transport Matteo Salvini wondered what the automaker’s founder Enzo Ferrari would make of this, former Ferrari CEO Luca Cordero di Montezemolo went one step further and suggested that Luce’s prancing horse logo should be removed.
“I agree with him; the horse needs to be removed,” Barone said, adding that his main gripe was the lack of sound. “How can you have a Ferrari without any smell?”
Efficient electric car engines are whisper-quiet compared to the noise of Ferrari’s usual V12 petrol engines. So Ferrari felt obliged to add the sound again. The company claims that the sound is authentic because it is picked up by sensors near the axles and amplified like an electric guitar.
Time will tell whether its efforts will convince fans that it is a real Ferrari. The initial reaction from financial markets showed that investors had a clear view: Ferrari shares fell 8.4% in Milan trading on Tuesday, while U.S.-listed shares fell 5.3%. The share price rebounded 3.5% on Thursday.
This recovery came after Ferrari’s CEO Benedetto Vigna said the car was attracting interest from potential buyers. During an event in Modena, Vigna dismissed the critics: I tell journalists People were writing to say they liked Luce and were ordering it. “This morning three people wrote to me saying ‘I’m buying it because I like it,'” Vigna said, adding that the company was complimented for the “courage and determination” shown in “defining what the car of the future should be.”
Vigna has previously said Ferrari is looking for buyers outside its traditional fans. John Elkann, the American-Italian scion of the Agnelli industrialist family, enlisted former Apple design boss Jony Ive and his colleague Marc Newson to pioneer the new car; which suggested he wanted appeal beyond petrolheads.
Investment bank analysts who attended Ferrari’s glitzy launch event in Rome alongside its super-rich clients were also more cautious. Zuzanna Pusz of Swiss bank UBS said “despite the lackluster enthusiasm for the model, there will be steady underlying loyalty.”
Michael Filatov of German Bank Berenberg said customers’ “feelings change after seeing the car in person, especially after seeing the extremely well-appointed interior.” But more importantly, the reaction “may not have any significance to the investment case” for Ferrari. Most analysts suggest it will produce fewer than 1,000 cars, so “Ferrari only needs to capture a small number of open-minded wealthy buyers,” Filatov said.
Elkann also presented the Luce to Pope Leo, himself a car enthusiast, and Italian president Sergio Mattarella as part of the high-profile launch.
B.Arone’s club has 70 members across Italy; they regularly meet in their Ferraris and often hold fundraising events. In the 1990s, Pope John Paul II carried the chariots in St. Peter’s Square. He claims that they were the first to bring Ferrari to the Vatican when he received a blessing from John Paul.
Barone owns a Ferrari F8 Tributo, of which approximately 1,000 were produced, equipped with a personalized license plate. When he’s not touring the Italian countryside or racing at an autodrome, his Ferrari is usually locked in a garage south of Rome. He drives a modest Fiat for daily use.
Barone, who was taught to drive by his father when he was eight years old, developed a passion for Ferrari at an early age. “I used to spend my mornings looking out of the windows of a Ferrari dealership in Rome until a dealer let me drive the car one day,” he said. Barone was a young boy at the time. “I still remember the smell of the leather seats,” he said.
Alex Tedino, a member of the Ferrari owners group, had a similar experience and finds it difficult to accept Luce because he believes it betrays the essence of the brand’s aesthetic.
“You can’t compare Ferrari with other cars,” Tedino said. “For us, these are great works of art and they have always evoked emotions, like looking at a Michelangelo, and the sound of the engine is like listening to Verdi or Puccini.”
When he first saw Luce, the opposite reaction was triggered. “It didn’t do me any good,” he said.
While Tedino supports Ferrari producing electric cars, he said that unless the classic look is preserved, the company should perhaps create a completely different brand. “It needs to be something visually beautiful, like all other Ferraris,” he said.
