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Chapter 1: What is the significance of Ferrari launching an electric vehicle?
Remember Joe Biden? Come on, man. He loved electric vehicles. Donald Trump, not so much. Everything's computer. But EVs are happening whether the powers that be want them or not. And on today's Explain from Vox, we're going to talk about two big splashy entries into the market. First up, the Ferrari Luce.
To represent the Luce, there are three key words that are Ferrari, Ferrari, Ferrari.
Designed by the same guy who helped design the iPhone, believe it or not. Second up, the slate truck. So when you see a slate truck, it should tug at your heart. That's what we're going for. A little electric truck that doesn't even have power windows, believe it or not.
But what we really want to know on the show is if either of these two cars are good enough or swaggy enough or cheap enough to help Americans get over that electric hump.
Come on, man.
Today Explained. I'm Andrew Hawkins, and I'm the transportation editor at The Verge.
And I guess last week was a big week for you because Ferrari, of all companies, put out an EV.
Yeah, it was a pretty exciting week for people who have very strong feelings about Ferrari, which I was surprised to learn is a lot of people.
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Chapter 2: Why are fans reacting negatively to the Ferrari Luce's design?
There's a lot of people who have very, you know, sort of a roller coaster of emotions about Ferrari, which was amazing. I love it.
Because people were really excited that Ferrari put out this EV?
Excited is not the word I would use to describe it. I would say aghast or dismayed maybe would be a better way. I don't think it's really an understatement to say it was greeted by a chorus of boos.
I try my best to not just come online and be negative, but that new Ferrari Luce is the ugliest car I've ever seen. When you look at a car, especially a Ferrari, it needs to make you feel something. This makes me feel numb. Actually, it makes me feel a little bit angry.
This looks like the kind of thing that even football mums would just ding the door of whenever they went to Tesco's because they don't care about it.
What has happened to Ferrari? So there's a whole spectrum of mad about the Luce. There were people who were mad on principle that Ferrari would deign to put out an electric vehicle.
I don't hate it as a car, but I hate it as a Ferrari.
There are people who are mad about the design of the car, the way that it looked, right, which was very much not like a Ferrari. It was sort of the antithesis of what a Ferrari looks like.
The rims are goofy and cartoonish. There are no lines, no detail, nothing that screams luxury, speed, or even style.
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Chapter 3: What are the unique features of the Ferrari Luce?
Make an EV that embodies art and performance, not this bland bar of soap with a blocky interior.
Let's talk about the design. People say it looks like a Nissan Leaf. That was really cold.
Much like most of these electric vehicles, they have to be kind of shaped like a jelly bean in a lot of ways because of aerodynamic considerations. I saw one person describe it as similar to how the Apple Magic Mouse looks, the wireless Mac mouse that Johnny Ive helped design. So I think it just sort of looks kind of like a slab to a lot of people. And that is just not
the traditional Ferrari. Surely that was part of the plan, right? We're making an EV, we're venturing into this new realm. Let's not have it look like the Ferraris of yore.
I think absolutely it was. I think that there was a sense inside the company that, you know, they needed to do something that was different than the rest of their lineup, right? Like if Ferrari is going to put out an EV, they couldn't just take, you know, one of their, you know, classic models and just sort of stick an electric motor on it and call it a day.
They wanted to start from sort of first principles, a blank slate, if you will. And I think bringing Johnny Ive and his firm, Love From, into the process was sort of a way of signaling that this was going to be something that was not in keeping with Ferrari's traditional design.
There's a lot of people who really liked the inside of the vehicle and the way that it kind of blends digital and analog controls. There's a lot of switches and toggles and grab bars and physical touch points that really I think a lot of people were excited about because sort of in the EV world,
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Chapter 4: How does the Ferrari Luce compare to traditional Ferrari models?
You're just dealing with what is essentially just like a giant computer on wheels for the most part. And I think that that excited a lot of people. And then the actual car came out and people got pissed off.
I mean, when I heard people saying it looks like a Nissan Leaf, I went and looked up, of course, what a Nissan Leaf looks like. And if we're being honest, like, they're not wrong. It looks like a nicer version of a Nissan Leaf on the outside. But then I went to The Verge and I looked at your guys' coverage and I saw all these incredible... Incredible photos of the inside.
And on the inside, you start to sort of understand why this car might cost something like seven hundred thousand dollars. Although although that still feels expensive. What are people getting for six hundred and some thousand dollars?
Just to set expectations here, no one has driven this car yet, right? It's just been revealed to the public for the first time last week. I think that they allowed a couple of F1 drivers, Lewis Hamilton amongst them, get behind some of the pre-production models.
The power delivery is amazing. You just feel centered the whole time, even when you're going through corners, which is really nice. That's probably why I was so relaxed. You were pushing like crazy. No, no, no, no, no, no. Please don't do that.
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Chapter 5: What is the market response to the Slate truck and its design philosophy?
LH, LH, LH.
No one's actually tested the vehicle. So we don't know how it drives. We don't know how it performs on the track or out on the road. And I think that that's going to really say a lot, right? Because in a lot of ways, you know, driving an electric car these days, it's remarkably similar from brand to brand, right? You get behind the wheel of a Nissan Leaf,
or a Hyundai, or even a Tesla, and you're going to get a lot of the same kind of driving characteristics, right? The instant torque, the really quick acceleration, the smoothness, the quietness of the interior cabin. So you get all these things that are just sort of common across electric vehicles writ large.
So I think, again, what Ferrari is trying to do here with this model is they're trying to sort of maybe bring in a new demographic, right? A newer, younger, more tech-focused demographic, people, Silicon Valley billionaires amongst them. I think that's why you look across sort of like your – you know, crypto millionaires and all the people that are out there who are buying luxury vehicles.
Ferrari is not very well represented amongst that group. You get a lot of Lamborghinis, you get a lot of Porsche, Bugatti. You don't see a lot of Ferrari. And I think Ferrari is trying to maybe branch out a little bit and bring in some new buyers. And I think that that's why this electric vehicle is coming out today.
Did it speak to the traditional Ferrari owners or do they not even engage with like, I don't know, internet discourse so we don't even know?
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Chapter 6: Why is the Slate truck considered a stripped-down vehicle?
I would imagine most of them are not engaging. I didn't see a lot of reactions from current Ferrari owners.
I think it was mostly just sort of like, you know... Because if you walk into the chat and you're like, I own three Ferraris, people just start throwing tomatoes at you.
Probably the pitchforks get pulled out at that point. So, yeah, I mean, like, that is sort of like, you know, the grain of salt that you need to take all of this with, right, is that it's a lot of people who will never own a Ferrari, don't ever have the means in which to own a Ferrari, and are just sort of commenting, right? But I think that, you know, that says something, right?
That Ferrari is that type of brand that has that kind of global... recognition and reputation. So I do think that that is sort of why Ferrari stepped on so many toes with this EV because it is so far outside that kind of like very insular world.
What do you think about it? We've heard what the haters think. We haven't really heard what the Ferrari lovers think. What do you think about it? Andrew Hawkins, writer about automotive industry for The Verge.
You're asking me to put my feeble reputation on the line here, Sean. Yes. I actually kind of liked it, to be quite honest. I was not, I mean, like, I thought the exterior design was pretty meh. Keep in mind, I did not see it in person. The unveiling event took place in Rome, and Ferrari paid to fly out all these influencers and people to come out for the actual event.
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Chapter 7: How do rising car prices affect consumer preferences for electric vehicles?
Welcome to Ferrari. Okay, I genuinely, I don't know what to say. We've got the Ferrari Luce, the first ever electric Ferrari.
At The Verge, we have a very strict ethics policy. We do not accept paid travel from any company that we cover. So I was not able to go to this event. I thought the exterior was not like, it didn't like, you know, offend me really, but I thought it was kind of boring. But yeah, again, the interior was really, I thought, really impressive.
But again, we'll have to wait and see because nobody's gotten behind the wheel yet.
No one knows much more about this car because only an elite few have driven it. Although I did see the Pope behind the wheel, but I didn't see the Pope driving it. Is this the first four-door Ferrari? So we may have to wait until next year until we see, I don't know, some tech bro like blast past us on the highway in a Luce. But when that day comes, do you think people will be impressed?
I think like it's a Ferrari, right? Ferraris will always draw attention. Like there's something about a Ferrari that's kind of like a museum object to a lot of people. You don't see them on the road as much as you see some other luxury brands. So that when you do see them, it tends to draw this interest and this level of excitement, right?
So I do think that, you know, sort of in the same way that early on, like seeing the Tesla Model 3, for example, like turn people's heads in ways people are like, what is that thing?
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Chapter 8: What challenges do electric vehicles face in gaining consumer acceptance?
That thing looks weird. That's not, that doesn't look like your normal car. I think in a lot of ways, this Luce will also do that if you see it.
What is that thing? Looks kind of weird. That doesn't look like a normal car. Very much reminds me of the Cybertruck, which I believe my friend's wife was like, Nick, what is that garbage can?
I still, my kids, every time they see one, they're like, look, ew! You know, they like, they hate it. They have like a visceral reaction to it.
But there's another electric truck that we have to talk about.
Oh, yes, indeed.
The slate truck pulls up to Today Explained, after the break.
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