Former Apple Chief Designer Jony Ive Designed the Interior of Ferrari’s First Electric Vehicle

The interior of the Ferrari Luce, designed by former Apple Chief Designer Jony Ive, combines digital technologies with physical controls and elements of retro design.

The model was named Luce, which means "light" in Italian. Although the exterior appearance of the Ferrari will be showcased in May, the company has already unveiled the interior to prove that an electric Ferrari can preserve the brand’s character and emotions.

The design was developed by LoveFrom, a studio founded by Jony Ive and Marc Newson. Despite Ive’s reputation as the creator of iconic touch devices like the iPhone and iPad, he insisted on the generous use of physical controls in this project.

The interior of the Luce features real buttons, switches, and dials with noticeable tactile feedback. According to Ferrari, the prototypes underwent 20 iterations of improvements to achieve the perfect feel and sound of each switch. Special attention was given to the launch control switch, which is aircraft-style and placed above the driver.

The steering wheel looks like something from the 1960s: three thin spokes, open aluminum, and a layout inspired by classic Formula 1 cars. It is particularly lightweight, even though it houses many controls that allow it to avoid constant reference to the touchscreen.

Behind the wheel is the instrument panel developed in collaboration with Samsung Display. Two thin OLED screens partially overlap, creating a depth effect and a quasi-analog look at the scales. Additionally, there is a physical pointer here that moves over the digital graphics.

Ferrari emphasizes that the interface of the instruments is inspired both by historical automotive solutions and the laconic graphics of aviation–particularly helicopters and airplanes.

The company also took past mistakes into account. In the SF90 model, the touch start button on the steering wheel was negatively perceived because it removed the emotionality from the car start process. In the Luce, this was handled differently: the driver inserts a massive glass key into a socket in the center console, afterwards the color changes and the shifter "comes to life" with light animations.

The external appearance of the Ferrari Luce will be shown in May. Until then, more details about the drivetrain and chassis construction are expected.

Source: Ferrari