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Ferrari has revealed the exterior design and full technical details of its new Luce electric car.

Ferrari’s second five-door car (after the Purosangue) and its first five-seater will go on sale priced at around £440,000, with UK deliveries set for spring 2027.

The Luce has four electric motors, one for each wheel, making a combined 1036bhp, with a 122kWh battery giving it an estimated range of 329 miles (subject to homologation).

In terms of performance, Ferrari says the Luce will be able to reach 62mph from rest in 2.5sec, travel from 0-124mph in 6.8sec - making it one of the firm’s fastest-accelerating models yet – and go on to a 192mph top speed. 

It’s also the largest Ferrari yet: at 5026mm, the Luce is 53mm longer than the Purosangue, while measuring 1999mm wide across the body and 1544mm high (45mm lower than its V12 sibling), with a 2961mm wheelbase.

Design

The Luce’s design is primarily the work of LoveFrom, the design agency founded by industrial designers Sir Jony Ive – best known for designing the iMac, iPhone and iPad – and Marc Newson, another Apple alumni.

Ferrari has used design houses such as Pininfarina, Bertone and Zagato before, but it says that its relationship with LoveFrom has helped it think radically. 

Employees of LoveFrom, which has studios in San Francisco and London, have also been based in Ferrari’s offices at Maranello.

“We've been working hand in glove with Ferrari for the last six or seven years,” Newson said at the Luce’s launch in Rome. “It’s safe to say that we've been completely embedded within the Ferrari organisation.“

The Luce is a five-door hatchback with aft-hinged rear doors and a cab-forward design (the distance from driver’s seat to front axle is the same as in the 296 GTB), which affords it a spacious interior.

Rather than the focus of its styling being on downforce, as would usually be the case with Ferraris, more attention here has been paid to aerodynamics.

The design theme is for it to resemble a two-piece body; the black glassy volume contained within a coloured outer shell isn't dissimilar to the way the 12Cilindri’s glass and gloss black volumes look inserted inside its body panels.

“You might call it a glasshouse, or we like to call it a passenger cell,” said Newson. “Those things are intrinsically connected, but we like the idea of them as separate design elements.”

The Luce has ‘floating’ front and rear spoilers, each separated from the black form, allowing air to flow between the body and “this smooth, inherently aerodynamic object [inside],” said Newson.

While Ferrari doesn’t quote a number, because the car has to still generate some downforce to cope with its prodigious top speed, it says the Luce has the lowest drag coefficient of any roadgoing Ferrari: 25% less than the Amalfi, while generating the same kind of downforce. 

The Luce has been through two and a half times the number of CFD calculations as the Purosangue during its development, reflecting the importance of aerodynamic efficiency in an EV. “Drag means range [loss],” said aerodynamicist Matteo Biancalana.

The front-door strake vents air from the front wheel arches, while the rear wheel arches vent at the rear, and there are active cooling fins at the front to reduce drag. The windscreen wipers are mounted vertically at the windscreen edges to keep a smooth profile to the passenger cell.

The body-in-white is an entirely new aluminium structure, composed of extrusions, castings and sheets, into the floor of which is mounted a battery pack, which is also assembled in Maranello. Ferrari claims torsional rigidity is’’ up 35% over the Purosangue, while the Luce also has Ferrari’s first elastically mounted rear subframe, to improve NVH, from which the lower suspension arms and rear motor module are attached.

Interior

Elements of the Luce’s interior design had been shown in part before the car’s unveiling this week, but this is the first time Ferrari has shown the elements together inside the finished cabin.

The short-bonnet design and absence of a transmission tunnel free up enough space for the Luce to host Ferrari’s first five-seat interior, as well as 40/20/40-split rear seats with a 597-litre boot behind - Ferrari’s largest yet.

But the most notable elements of the Luce’s interior are surely the control surfaces that were previewed earlier this year, and which feature high-grade materials and physical buttons and dials.

“Just because the vehicle is electric, doesn’t mean we need to get carried away with electronics,” said Newson. The idea was to have “the minimum distraction possible.”

There's a small, thin-rimmed steering wheel reminiscent of classic Ferraris, as well as glass-fronted and -backed dials that feature both physical needles and high-definition digital displays. Most controls can be felt for rather than having to be looked at and all are engineered to feel heavy, or positive, to the touch.

“Jony and I are car enthusiasts, right?” said Newson. “We're petrolheads, I guess, for want of a better expression. We've owned Ferraris – old Ferraris, historic Ferraris. I'm an obsessive classic car collector. I've done the Mille Miglia 14 times. And I appreciate - we appreciate - the straightforward ability to be able to interact with things in a coherent, spontaneous way. And it occurred to us very, very early on in this process that, in fact, that was what Ferrari really fundamentally is about.”

Tactile and perceived material quality is high on the agenda too, said Newson: “There’s a sort of the litmus test that we applied to all of these objects, that every single one of them was beautiful; not only a beautiful object but a beautifully crafted object, a beautifully made object.“

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both supported and personalised ADAS preferences are available with one button-push on the steering wheel.

Powertrain

The Luce’s four electric motors produce a system total of 1036bhp and a maximum torque output of 739lb ft, which is heavily rear-biased, with 416bhp and 262lb ft produced by each rear motor and 141bhp and 103lb ft coming from each front motor.

The radial flux, permanent magnet synchronous motors are a derivative of the type used in the hybrid drivetrains of Ferrari’s GT racers and the F80 hypercar. The front motors can spin at up to 30,000rpm, while the larger rear motors top out at 25,000rpm, owing to their larger outer diameter, different gearing and a larger wheel diameter at the rear.

The motor and gearbox module at the front weighs just 65kg, with the rear at around 130kg.

With a motor for each individual wheel, the Luce can torque vector to improve agility or stability. The front motors will disengage in Range driving mode but otherwise always remain engaged in Tour and Performance modes.

The battery, weighing 630kg, is designed and built in Maranello and integrated into the car’s floorpan. Designed with Korean battery company SK On, it consists of 210 cells connected in series, arranged 14 per module, with 15 modules in the pack – one centrally at the front behind the front axle, then mounted two by two to the rear, where the last four are stacked two-high, beneath the rear seats.

They have a peak discharge rate of 830kW and a total capacity of 122kWh at 800V, with a usable capacity of around 11kWh. The Luce’s peak charge speed is claimed to be 350kW, although Ferrari says it will take 70kWh in 20 minutes, meaning a sustained rate over that time of 210kW.

The battery pack is designed and built in Maranello so that Ferrari – which says 90% of all of its cars are still on the road – can place new battery tech into its own pack design should it need to, even decades down the road - in a similar way to how it’s offering F80-derived packs for LaFerrari batteries now.

Dynamics

While the Luce weighs 2260kg, it has a centre of gravity that’s 95mm lower than a Purosangue’s and a yaw moment of inertia that’s 15% smaller. Weight distribution is 47:53 front to rear.

It has the largest wheels yet fitted to a Ferrari, with 23in, 9.5J front and 24in, 11J rear wheels, in two different styles – lighter five-spoke alloys or a more aerodynamically efficient turbine design, which gives maximum range.

Between them, suppliers Pirelli, Michelin and Bridgestone offer two normal tyres, two winter tyres and a run-flat option.

Ferrari’s chief product development officer, Gianmaria Fulgenzi, said the Luce will be “the most comfortable Ferrari ever produced”. The suspension is by double wishbones at the front and rear and employs an evolution of the 48V Multimatic TrueActive spool-valve dampers first used on the Purosangue, which negate the need for conventional anti-roll bars. Here, though, their internal ball screw pitch is increased by 20%, which better absorbs vertical impacts, and they’re 0.5kg lighter at each corner.

Ferrari’s engineers promise the Luce will be extraordinary to drive. Testing chief Raffaele de Simone said that “it behaves like… you have no idea. It’s a new sensation.”

With active rear steering, torque vectoring and the low centre of gravity, the steering response is said to be 15% faster than in the Purosangue, even though the rack is the same.

If you ask for a steering response at speed, “you don’t know if the main actors are the steering or the engines,” said de Simone, while insisting that “it’s very natural. It’s always linked to what you ask for.” The chassis and power, he said, “are fused together”.

Ferrari admits that much of its cars’ driver appeal is linked to their powertrains. To enhance the interaction of the Luce, in Performance mode there are amplified sounds, taken directly from the motors and gearsets as they mesh and amplified into the cabin.

“The sound is authentic; the sound is real,” said de Simone. “You can see where it comes from. We didn’t want a fake, nostalgic sound.”

Ferrari’s famous steering column paddles remain too, but instead of artificial gearshifts, such as in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, the left-hand paddle increases regenerative braking while also reducing the amount of available power.

There are five stages, with the most severe pulling 0.33g under throttle-off deceleration, “more or less the same as the engine braking in a 12Cilindri in second gear,” de Simone said. The right-hand paddle reduces that and increases the amount of available power on full throttle.

You can pull any ‘gear’ at any speed, but extra power – around 0.2g of additional acceleration – is released with each upshift, with the top setting liberating the full whack.

“It’s not a fake gearbox. The power is cut in slices, not speed,” de Simone said. “We keep the interaction, to keep decision-making active.”

The idea is that, in lower-speed corners, you want the additional retardation and can’t use all 1036bhp anyway. “It’s not easy to manage full power” on low-speed corner exit, de Simone said.

Away from this manual mode, the automatic operation of the Luce has an “almost coasting” regenerative braking level, of around 0.05g, which is “the same as the Purosangue in eighth gear,” said de Simone.

Buying

UK prices for the Luce haven’t yet been confirmed, but it’s set to cost €550,000 in continental Europe, where it will go on sale early next year, with an estimate of £440,000 in the UK, plus or minus 10%.

Customer deliveries are due to begin next spring.  

The new BYD Dolphin G DM-i is the Chinese firm’s first car developed specifically for Europe – and will take on both electric and petrol rivals with an unusual plug-in hybrid powertrain.

Due to go on sale in the UK this autumn, with pricing tipped to start from under £20,000, the new model is a 4160mm-long supermini that is essentially a sibling to the Dolphin Surf EV.

It will rival the likes of the Renault Clio, Volkswagen Polo and Toyota Yaris – but while most rivals feature mild- or full-hybrid powertrains, the Dolphin G features a full plug-in hybrid powertrain.

While BYD hasn’t given full details of the layout of the Super Hybrid system, it's expected to be related to the system fitted in the Atto 2 DM-i small SUV, commingling a 1.5-litre petrol engine that acts as a generator for an electric motor that drives the front wheels.

BYD said the Dolphin G will offer a combined petrol and electric range of more than 621 miles, with full details to follow when the car is fully launched in June.

Notably, the Dolphin G is the first car that BYD has developed specifically for the European market – and it's likely to be produced at the firm’s new plant in Hungary.

Executive vice-president Stella Li decided the European B-segment “as one of the most important parts of the market" and wanted the Dolphin G “to redefine what customers can expect from a compact car in the electric era”.

The compact PHEV will be the first in a planned range of B- and C-segment models that BYD is developing specifically for Europe, with Li having previously said the “goal is for customers to think of BYD as a European brand”.

Lotus has revealed a new lightweight Emira that aims to offer a "pure expression" of the company's DNA with improved agility and responsiveness over the standard car.

Based on the Emira Turbo, with the Mercedes-AMG four-pot engine, the new Emira 420 Sport is named for its power figure in PS (414bhp), which represents a bump of 54bhp over the standard car and 14bhp over the warmed-up SE that arrived last year. 

Lotus says the car will crack 0-62mph in 3.9sec and achieve a top speed of 186mph – but more important than its straight-line stats are the dynamic advantages it offers over the regular Emira, with the firm claiming it has "been designed specifically to deliver even more performance both on road, and on track."

The 420 Sport, priced at £105,900, is equipped as standard with the Lightweight Handling Pack, which trims 25kg off the weight of the standard Turbo – taking it down to 1421kg – and boosts downforce by the same amount. 

It also brings a suite of subtle bodywork modifications in pursuit of optimised aerodynamics and cooling – which, Lotus says, improves track performance without increasing drag. 

There's a new front splitter with reshaped vents at the front and a new lip spoiler at the back. The sills have also been extended and the air intakes expanded, which is said to increase airflow to the radiators by up to 15% and improve brake cooling by 10%.

"With these upgrades, drivers are able to experience more consistent performance in demanding conditions, particularly on track," says Lotus.

The car also rides 5mm lower on its uniquely tuned suspension, wears high-performance tyres and comes with bespoke carbonfibre shift paddles that "combine with updated haptics for added responsiveness and engagement".

Buyers can further emphasise the 420's lightweight remit with an optional carbon styling package that swaps out the splitter, sills, vents, side pods, rear wing and diffuser for carbonfibre items. 

The 420 Sport also introduces to the Emira range a removable sunroof, to be rolled out as an option across the line-up, and features a louvred rear deck that nods to the old Esprit Turbo.

The 420 does not replace any current model in the Emira range, with the two existing four-cylinder variants and the V6 all remaining on sale – but it could be the last new version introduced before the sports coupé swaps its AMG and Toyota engines for a new hybrid V6 developed by Horse Powertrain in the coming years.

Few things in the history of automotive technology can have progressed quite as rapidly as the lithium-ion battery pack, variations of which power all EVs on the roads today.

When Tesla broke the mould in 2013 with the Model S, its battery comprised many thousands of individual '18650' cylindrical cells. The name is derived from the dimensions of each one, 18mm in diameter and 65mm long, so not unlike a domestic battery in shape.

An individual 18650 cell generates only a few volts but connecting them together in series gives the hundreds of volts needed for an EV traction battery. Grouping them in parallel provides capacity and increases current. Choosing the 18650 format was a clever move because it was already an industry-standard battery, but there are other formats too.

One such is pouch cells. The very first Nissan Leaf used pouch cells and, in that sense, the new Porsche Cayenne EV has something in common with it.

The Leaf was launched globally in 2010 and arrived in the UK two years later. It was capable of around 70-80 miles on a single charge of its 24kWh battery, which comprised 192 pouch cells, four in each of 48 modules.

The Cayenne battery is also made up of 192 larger pouch cells, 32 of them in each of six modules. But it's a world away from the little Leaf battery when it comes to capacity: its 113kWh gives the high-performance SUV a range of over 370 miles.

How are these incredibly powerful batteries made? Porsche assembles the modules at its Smart Battery Shop at Horná Streda in Slovakia using cells made in Europe. Once the cells have been manufactured, they are shipped into the plant for installation into the modules. A supplier equips the finished modules with high-voltage cables and associated connectors and an external contractor assembles the six complete modules into the high-voltage battery pack.

Assembly of the modules takes place in immaculately clean conditions, with strict standards protecting the components from electrostatic discharge. The pouch cells are tested and prepped and then stacked on top of one another with highly accurate alignment of the connectors.

These stacks are inserted into cell carriers and the cell tabs (connectors) are positioned and joined by automated laser welding. A foam material is added to stabilise and protect the stacks and thermally conductive materials inserted between the cells to aid heat dissipation.

After electrical, function and dimensional tests, insulation measurements and a thorough visual inspection, the modules are shipped to the contractor for final battery assembly. Production data for each module is recorded and Porsche says it will be able to trace each one even after many years.

Finally, before assembly into the cars, batteries undergo performance testing in Porsche's own analysis centre, where the focus is on longevity and charging capability.