Welcome to Ferrari Friday, a special edition of The Signet Letter.
It’s usually an exciting moment when a Ferrari loses traction. The engine roars, tires screech, and the dashboard screams at you in Italian.
However, their polarizing new E.V. named the Luce is unlikely to gain any traction to begin with.
Every Friday in The Signet Letter, we share something interesting that you can bring up at dinner this weekend or drop into Monday morning’s small talk. Now, back to the story…
No one has been brave enough to say something nice about the Luce so far.
In fact, former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo said the car “risks the destruction of a legend.” To prevent this, he wants the prancing horse logo removed from the car.
Yes, it’s that ugly.
But at least it’s powerful. In addition to producing over 1,000 horsepower, it’s also powerful enough to tank Ferrari’s stock price 8%.
To gain some goodwill, Ferrari brought the car to Pope Leo XIV. After sitting in the car, he’s not sure if Ferrari will be forgiven for their sins against the brand’s legacy.
Among other critics is Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini.
Minister Salvini wrote, “It looks like anything but a car from the Prancing Horse. And this is supposed to be ‘innovation’? Who knows what [Ferrari founder] Enzo Ferrari would say.”
Most of the blame can be directed to former Apple chief designer Jony Ive. His design firm led the creation of the Luce. To start the process he placed an old project of his, the 1998 iMac, on a large table. Then he glued four wheels to the computer.
Moments later, the team celebrated finishing the look of Ferrari’s first electric vehicle. They even used the same blue hue from the computer for the car’s paint job.
After all, an electric vehicle is just a computer on wheels. Right?
Ferrari has declined to comment. Maybe they should have asked one of the millions of children around the world with Ferrari posters on their wall for input before hiring Ive.
P.S. No one’s putting a Signet poster on their wall. But we can get your business funded in as little as 24 hours, which is arguably more useful. Let’s talk.