I was at the Ferrari Luce EV launch before the backlash

The launch that turned into a PR crisis for Ferrari started about six weeks ago when an invitation landed in my inbox to come to the unveiling of the Luce, its very first full electric car.

The event was so controlled that security blocked our phone cameras to stop unauthorized pictures of the 550,000-euro EV, which so disappointed investors that the company’s stock fell 8% the next day. But the event was a reminder of how big a step the company was taking and how the car’s real test will be when it comes to market.

On Monday evening, I was whooshed alongside hundreds of guests in dark vans, escorted by police, to the Vela di Calatrava sports complex on the outskirts of Rome.

Security stickered our phones and laptop cameras to cover the cameras and checked multiple times in case we had tampered with them.

All the secrecy and almost solemnity added to the anticipation of a launch that was five years in the making.

Under what looked like the skeleton of a whale, elements of the car were on display under tamed lights: the platform, seats and other parts that had been previously presented, including those designed by former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive.

Later on stage and under a sculptural piece by famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, family scion and Ferrari Chair John Elkann opened the presentation, followed by CEO Benedetto Vigna and other top managers. A short video of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc having fun driving the new Luce, still a mystery to us at this point, added to the reveal build-up.

Finally, after an hour, the piece de resistance: the Luce (“light” in Italian), presented in five colours, drove in, with flashing lights and loud music.

Full disclosure, I don’t even have a driving license – but even I could tell straight away this was a significant departure from the Ferrari look. And while the Luce comes in red, it was mostly showcased in blue, including in the marketing material released later by Ferrari, adding to the style shock.

A DJ was rolled out when we were finally allowed to get close to the cars. As the evening was coming to an end, I sat in the new Luce, discovering a luxurious camel interior. It felt spacious – the first ever five-seater for Ferrari – and smelled expensive.

But the party really came to an end on Tuesday morning. Ferrari shares dropped 8% on the day, and the car received a deluge of criticism on social media – cue memes and AI-generated videos of a crying Enzo Ferrari.

Yet, Ferrari had hinted that the new car would look different. As RBC’s Tom Naryan said of the launch: “The reason that Ferrari partnered with an external designer (for the first time since 2014) was its aim to make a product that was truly disruptive.”

Standing in front of the shiny new, this time red, Luce, CEO Vigna told me:  “When you have a new technology, you need to make sure that that technology is properly represented in the design. So the design must be different.”

Yet, many do not seem convinced, seeing the iPhone-style minimalism mismatching Ferrari’s aesthetic.

It turned into a national controversy. Outspoken politician and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini said on X: “Electric, outrageously expensive (550 thousand euros!) and, from an aesthetic point of view, it speaks for itself.”

He added that “it looks like anything but a car from the Prancing Horse,” referring to Ferrari’s famous logo. Salvini added: “This is supposed to be “innovation”? Who knows what Enzo Ferrari would say…”

Former Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo told Italian TV that the model risks “destroying a myth… At least, this is definitely a car the Chinese won’t imitate.”

It went all the way up to Pope Leo, who was seen inspecting and taking a ride aboard the Luce in a Ferrari communique late Tuesday after the stock tumbled.

Yet some analysts don’t expect that Ferrari will need a miracle for the Luce to be a success.

Bernstein analysts drew inspiration from the movie “Field of Dreams.”

“If Ferrari builds the car, the clients will come,” they wrote. “We believe there are sufficient collectors and completeists, customers aspiring for collector status, as well as new to Ferrari customers to ensure that Luce firmly establishes its position within Ferrari’s range.”

So hold your (prancing) horses, there may actually be “Luce” at the end of the tunnel.