In my small circle of car friends, the new Ferrari is being called the "Magic mouse" of ferraris and posting memes of the car upside down with the cable plugged in at the bottom.
I was hoping for an SF90 meets Nevera when they were talking about it originally :(
But that is entirely unoriginal and derivative, compared to a designer wanting to make a mark.
Could be worse. Could be the 1998 iMac mouse of cars. (No way to tell which way it's going.)
It also had a semi-useful touchbar, no actual physical ESC key, a terrible "butterfly" keyboard that was replaced twice, and a large trackpad that had terrible palm rejection until they eventually fixed it.
So mostly not great, but I miss the form factor and those 4 TB/USB-C ports. I dream about having more of them.
My Sony wireless headphones have a similar issue. They cannot be used (with Bluetooth / ANC) when charging. My ReDragon USB mouse does not have that issue - it has a standard USB-C port on the front edge and I only need to charge it every few weeks, which is far less often than I charge a phone, so insertion cycles is not a concern.
I doubt that had anything to do with it. I've had multiple Magsafe cables that spend their entire existence in one spot on a desk (even using cable guides to keep them sitting within a few millimeters) do some bizarre "paper lanterning" of the rubber at the connector, and I'm far from the only one.
Let's be absolutely real. The port on the back would have ruined Ive's militance on sleekness and that was the reason it wasn't included. Form over function.
From my work experience, you can't give a designer unlimited power because he/she will turn the product into an art project.
And the iPhone 5c which had toy-like colors and was reminiscent of Fisher-Price products. The 5c case with holes made it even worse.
markets are volatile, 6% on one ticker is noise
however while folks are negative on Ive for the car shape, he only designed the interiors not the car body, and the interiors are kinda lovely car interior design:
-no touchscreen (dangerous while driving) -clicky, intuitive tactile switches and buttons -thoughtful use of color (display base color changes based on driving mode)
I mean even just looking at those air conditioning vents (rotate vent to open/close) is classive Ive: intuitive but sophisticated.
I hope more manufacturers copy these new/old patterns on the interiors.
TopGear reports otherwise [0]:
> In a genius move, they hired design agency LoveFrom to handle the exterior and interior execution: that’s headed by former Apple chief design officer, Sir Jonathan Ive.
[0] https://www.topgear.com/car-news/electric/its-finally-here-m...
the interiors are nice, but overall imo the car is a design failure.
primary inputs while driving are buttons and knobs
Honestly, if the car itself was a BYD Luce and cost $50,000, the internet would be in awe and I personally think it would be sick.
But nothing about it screams (or even whispers) half a million dollars and then some.
Edit: I asked AI the same question and it reminded me that BMW’s i4, Camry Hybrid, Porsche Taycan, Ferrari 296 GTB (hybrid), Corvette E-Ray, F150 Lightning, and Genesis Electrified G80 all look fairly similar to standard ICE vehicles.
The fact that even though an ICE engine is only 35% efficient, the energy density of fuel is still much higher than gas. Gasoline is 50x more energy-dense than an average EV lithium battery (taking a Tesla Model 3 as example). That's why you can fuel 9L of gasoline or charge and carry around ~500kg of batteries for the same range.
So in order to make the car efficient and travel 500km you have to bend the shape to be as aerodynamic as possible. That's where retractile/flush handles also come from, it wasn't just a gimmick or wow-factor on the Model S when it launched. It's still like that years later on all models because it still makes the car more efficient.
The research and push for higher densities is finally starting to pay off, so in time less efficient but more appealing/classic designs may start to emerge again, because you're less constrained by how much energy you can carry per same weight/volume.
Audi and BMW have been doing this for years at this point.
BMW i4 is a 4 series grand coupe (i.e., hatchback sedan in this case).
Audi ev suvs are super close to the gas versions. Both are shifting overlapped designs around though, perhaps specializing.
https://www.mercedes-benz.de/passengercars/models/electric.h...
It’s literally the MK7 Golf R, but with AWD removed and a battery instead of an engine. Physical interior throughout with CarPlay/AA, all aftermarket parts for the MK7 work with it. Drives like a go-kart on the streets.
Super fun as a second or third grocery getter if you can find one in good condition and with the right option sets.
For the longest time ICE car makers build cars that screamed "electric". They mostly where behind expectations. At that time the by far most successful EV brand was Tesla with the USP that their cars looked like cars, while the EV from the competition looked like video game asserts; the BMW EVs from that time where among the most ugly cars i have ever seen.
Now this has reversed. The current EVs from VW, Mercedes and BMW, Renault, Dacia, Fiat all look normal. The ordinary-looking BMW iX3 has a long waiting list since launch, VWs boring ID-cars are doing better than ever. Tesla has released the cybertruck that screams "electric" and is a sales disaster.
My personal conspiracy theory is that the ICE divisions wanted to prevent EVs cannibalizing their market and they pushed for ugliness or "differentiation".
People want cars to look like cars. This is tautologically true, but manufactures needed quite some time to figure that out.
I definitely don't mind the new i3 (or even the old one), which are pure electric designs.
Nothing. That's exactly what early car makers did — they took a carriage and removed the horse. Electric cars with big hoods and radiator grills is the same thing.
Isn't that literally what the first Tesla was? An existing Lotus chassis with electric guts?
I do think it's kinda weird that Ferrari didn't do something similar, or at least closer to that, compared to... this thing.
And plenty of people drive motorcycles and old cars every day without incident. Just from a percentage basis it’s not as safe.
The plenty of people comment also reminds me of the sayings about airliners. It's not that there's a lot of accidents, but when they do happen, there tends to be higher percentage of fatalities.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/RACE/?guccounter=1
til ferrari's ticker is RACE !
On the other hand, it's a five-seater and an attempt to make it look more like Ferrari's iconic cars could also end badly.
The interior and interfaces look great. Even if the roundness of interior is not your cup of tea, figuring out the right balance between tactile buttons and touchscreen is really important and they might have nailed it.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, is looking at owning a Ferrari for “efficiency”. They are similar to Porsche where you’re looking for a driving feel, or for the badge.
Ferrari releasing this feels like saying “our ethos does not matter”. This thing should’ve been a sports car through and through, efficiency be damned.
Also, 99% of cars are ugly these days. They all look like angry vacuum cleaners.
Many hybrid cars, even plug-in hybrids, look like ICE cars, and don't stand out on the street. I think it's the way to go for more EV adoption.
It isn’t a fine looking Ferrari or even close.
I mean, I feel like it should be a departure from the Ferrari look since it really isn't one that fits the expectation of what a Ferrari is. It feels like this is more an expansion of the Ferrari brand into a new segment while also borrowing from the rest of the brand?
They even said "entirely new Ferrari".
I feel like if it did try to look like a normal Ferrari but then it didn't feel, sound, etc like one due to being Electric people would also complain.
A "normal" Ferrari or any old sportscar looks cool on a race track but in real life it is literally midlife crisis on wheels, very awkward and out of place. I always feel pity/judgement when I see one. I heard it's also uncomfortable for passengers in the back and so on.
Form is function. Making this car look like something it isn't just for the sake of legacy appearance would be top engineering stupidity and waste. And trying to compete with your own ICE cars at what they are best also would not be so smart business-wise.
I'm not a car guy but this car seems to be doing something totally new for Ferrari. If there was no controversy THEN it would be worrying!
I think they might have had much more success with a strategy like the R32 EV. Take something classic (like the Testarossa) and electrify it. Remind people that EVs are an evolution rather than a capitulation to generic boringness.
s/Ferrari/Tesla and I think we have the sentiment of any cybertruck owners
The UX seems actually very good (based on this short review so far). Good use of physical tactile controls + flexibility of a screen.
As to external looks. Whenever I see old ICE sports cars (all those lotuses, ferraris, lamborghinis) they seem so awkward and out of place on city streets. They just scream midlife crisis. I think this will be an upgrade in that sense.
Thank God only a few will be produced and those will be squirreled away by a handful of oligarchs and will never see the light of day.
Ferrari Luce
Hiring someone because of their name recognition in a role they aren’t suited for would of course backfire.
(Again, maybe he does have some prior work that means he’s suited for the job and I’m just unaware)