Jony Ive defended the widely panned design of Ferrari NV’s first electric car, saying people respond differently to the vehicle when they see it in person than in photographs.
“You can make something new and different that’s rubbish. That’s very easy,” said Ive, whose LoveFrom studio worked alongside Ferrari to design the Luce EV, said Wednesday at the Wave by Vento event in Turin. “It’s very hard to make something that is new and different, and its newness is a consequence of it being better. And that’s what we’ve tried to do.”
Ive, the former Apple Inc. design chief, spoke onstage alongside the technology event’s sponsor, Ferrari Chairman John Elkann. His comments mark a rare response to disappointing reviews of the €550,000 ($615,00) Luce. The EV, unveiled in May, drew criticism from analysts and social-media commentators who compared its appearance to mass-market electric cars.
Read More: Ferrari Falls After Disappointing Reviews of Its First EV
The industrial lines, larger proportions and simpler cabin of the four-door, five-seat Luce mark a departure from Ferrari’s heritage of combustion-engine sports cars.
Ive said Luce’s unfamiliar appearance will be justified by drivers’ experience. He described an unusually large difference between reactions to photographs and seeing the car itself, while acknowledging that designers cannot control whether customers like a finished product.
Teams from LoveFrom and Ferrari spent the preceding five years working on the car, he said.
Luce’s physical controls allow drivers to operate them without looking and receive immediate feedback, he added. The teams also explored ways to make starting the electric car more engaging, including a key that changes color when placed in the vehicle.
“It’s not the future, but it’s a part of the future of Ferrari,” he said.