I’m not really sure why someone would hire Ive to design a car. I don’t know much about him, but to me he’s mostly known for designing Apple products, not luxury vehicles.
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)
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.
The hiring brand is Ferrari. Its entire business is predicated on a Paris-Hilton-style effect, whereby it is famous for being famous. Tactics like hiring Jony Ive are a common way to keep this virtuous cycle afloat. It's not really about design, it's about PR/hype/reputation/branding.
imo the exterior looks like a cartoon BYD and should be killed with fire.
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.
> 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.
What prevents car manufacturers from taking a normal-looking body style and electrifying it? Seems popular with the aftermarket mods. Every hybrid and EV I can think of looks like a suppository.
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.
I love the look of old cars, but there's a lot of modern safety advances sacrificed with driving around in a classic. Obvious would be modern seat belts and air bags. Less obvious are crumple zones. There's plenty of other things I'm sure that have been added in modern cars. A modern EV with the body of a 1969 Corvette Stingray or 1969 Camaro would be amazing. I'm talking modern interior materials for sound dampening and comfort like updated ACs not modern touch screen nonsense.
While there are some interesting design choices for things like the lights and wheels (across all Hyundai models, IMHO) the Hyundai EV9 is a pretty normal looking SUV.
The design says: "Look at this nice Ferrari-branded toy car! You should have one in your garage, it would look cute next to your real car (_Real_ Ferrari, gas engine, looks like a sleek lion about to eat its prey)". In that sense, it might be perfect - for a brand that's not yet certain that it can stay true to itself in a EV-only world?
Definitely some Toyota Prius vibes. They certainly should take some design risks, but not in the direction of an everyday commuter. I can only image the amount of patting on the backs the Ive team gave each other. Good job guys, on to the next project.
As someone who is not in the market for a Ferrari, I feel like I am crazy for actually kinda liking the look of it? (The blue is bad, they should have used the red one for all of the marketing)
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.
I am also not in the market for a Ferrari. The problem is that it looks so pedestrian. Personally, I think the Ioniq has more personality. For a 600k car, it should have some appeal. This just looks like every other EV; it’s generic and boring.
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.
Thanks for the link. Totally seeing the appeal of this car.
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.
It’s just not an attractive design at all, and stat-wise it’s laughable compared to a Tesla, especially at that price point. There’s no way this sees production. If anything, this just harms the Ferrari brand.
That is clearly not the mistake, there are images of it in blue, red, and yellow. I've also seen a couple of different styles of wheels. The design looks bad (for a Ferrari) in every iteration. The overwhelming feedback on public discussions is that it looks [cheap|terrible|boring|notFerrari].