As you must have noticed by now, the launch of Ferrari’s latest supercar, the all-electric Luce sedan, has caused the biggest controversy around the Italian brand that we’ve seen in a decade. Designed by former iPhone designers, it was bashed by Italy’s deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and garnered a sharp response from the company’s own former chief, Luca di Montezemolo.
Salvini took to his X page to write: “It looks nothing like a [Prancing Horse]. Is this supposed to be ‘innovation’? Who knows what Enzo Ferrari would say.”
In turn, di Montezemolo – who is now 78 – looked visibly flustered when accosted by the media. If I had to say what I really think, I would be hurting Ferrari,” he told Askanews. “We’re risking the destruction of a legend, and I’m very sorry about that. I hope they at least remove the Prancing Horse from that car.”
He started heading towards the exit, but was held up by the reporters. “This is surely a car that at least the Chinese won’t copy from us,” he dropped with what looked like a sad, sarcastic smirk before leaving. You can find all the relevant videos right here and see for yourself, but do note that most of the relevant text is in Italian.
Regarding that “Chinese” bit, we suppose that di Montezemolo could be referring to the Xiaomi YU7. The electric crossover looked clearly inspired by the Ferrari Purosangue when it debuted. In fact, “inspired” might be a rather mild term to use.
The launch of the Ferrari Luce caused the company’s stock to plummet by 8.4% in Italy and 5.1% in the United States last weekend, but both numbers have largely rebounded by now.