Everything About The Ferrari Luce Launch Has Been Strange

But that's the fun of it all, I suppose

Howdy! Matt here.

There are some automakers that build cars I like but are, for various reasons, not ones I generally chase down for access. Ferrari is one of those automakers. I did a little client work for Ferrari in my break from autojournalism and had a great time, enjoying both the customers and the corporate folks. You never forgot you were working for the big prancing horse, but the American arm, at least, was a little more open to ideas than you’d expect.

That all being said, I’ve also interacted with Ferrari as a journalist and producer, and while we’ll always be fair to them, I’m not sure the access is worth having to explain some of the posts around here. Ferrari doesn’t need us, and we don’t need Ferrari, and in that there’s hopefully some sort of mutual respect.

I was glad this week when the Ferrari Luce debuted that we wouldn’t have to talk around the strangeness of the company’s first electric car. We didn’t, comparing it to a Mighty Mouse both in the debut post and on Instagram.

We like to have fun, as do our readers, who made a lot of great jokes at the expense of the poor Luce. I do wonder if super designers Marc Newsom and Jony Ive care at all what anyone thinks. Maybe not. Good for them if that’s the case.

I don’t even think it’s a bad car per se. I just agree with the conventional wisdom forming that it’s the Ferrari of it all (and maybe the price) that’s the problem. If the car had been the Apple Car or a Nissan or whatever, I think we’d have liked it.

It seems like Ferrari itself was very sensitive to the way this car would be perceived as well, as Thomas reported today. While Chris Harris has had his issues with Ferrari in the past, I’ve produced at least one TV episode where he drove a Ferrari loaned out by Maranello, and he owns one, so there’s clearly some level of detente, there.

Here’s what Chris said on his emergency podcast:

As a journalist, I can tell you [that] you had to meet certain criteria to be invited for that unveiling. I’m proud to say I didn’t meet them. I was telephoned and asked how positive I was about electric cars and I said “Not very,” and the invite was not forthcoming.

Weird! More surprising to me was that Tim B., aka Schmee150, had even more to say in a special episode from his YouTube channel:

This is probably gonna be the most controversial part of this video and possibly get me in a little bit of trouble, but I think it’s important to be honest with you because it will also make quite a bit of sense as to what you’ve seen out there. For example, take Top Gear’s video by Jason. Great video, but the top comment basically says ‘journalists have become PR representatives for automotive companies’. And that’s because Ferrari played this very cleverly in the way they did this event. I felt really uncomfortable with it for various reasons, and I’ve been shooting first look videos like this for many years and done a lot of them, but there was something quite unique about this one in particular that I have never had to do before and that’s in connection with the embargo.

There’s more in the article, including about the large fines for leaking stuff (whether enforceable or not, who knows). As David and I noted in the piece, everyone does some version of this, although Ferrari seems more paranoid than usual. I’m not surprised, just amused, really.

What did shock me was that Schmee stood up to Ferrari in a way. I’ve seen him at a ton of these events, and while we don’t know one another, he’s the consummate static reveal guy. There’s some risk involved but, as he says, some of the content out there feels weird and corporate and he’s the only person I’ve seen explain why: Everyone had to use Ferrari’s shooters.

In that way, I think, Ferrari shot itself in the foot a little bit. By overproducing the event it all has this uncanny sheen to it.

As Chris pointed out, when he wanted to drive the Porsche 918 Spyder (I think for APEX: Story of the Hypercar?) it was just in a garage, he grabbed it, and off he drove. That’s confidence.

I hope to drive the Luce one day, and I’m guessing it’ll be spectacular, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if I never got the chance.

-MH