Cards on the table: I despise the Apple Watch. I once got a free one from Audi (it used a bunch of them to measure journalists’ heart rates during R8 Performance standing-start launches), wore it for about a week, and then stuck it in a drawer. Aside from never once desiring a mini mini iPad on my wrist, I loathed how it beeped, buzzed, and vibrated. Totally not for me. My wife eventually fished it out of the drawer, reprogrammed it for her needs, then a month later put it back in the drawer and purchased a step tracker. More cards: I love driving modern Ferraris, like the F80 I experienced last summer. They are exceptional sports and supercars. But an Apple Watch in a Ferrari? As an Australian would say, naurrrgh mate.
When I first saw the pics of the Jony Ive/Mark Newsome–designed Ferrari Luce interior pieces, my reaction was basically, yeah, man, they would look right at home inside a mass-market vehicle. Think Honda or Audi.
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Perhaps Honda is a stretch, but the new Audi Concept C interior—designed under the philosophy of “radical simplicity”—hits like a simplified version of what’s in the upcoming Luce EV. I’m not here to defend modern Ferrari interiors; broadly, they’re pretty much OK and exotic enough, though they’re littered with tiny, fussy bits. Like the puny HELE (High Emotions Low Emissions) button to the left of the steering wheel, which I only know about because it’s how you deactivate stop/start.
I won’t name names here because the stakes are so low, but for the most part, my fellow automotive journalists have been swooning over the Luce’s Appley parts, whereas every car designer I’ve spoken with about it has expressed disappointment. To summarize the critiques: cold, too brutal, no emotion; this is what happens when non-car designers design cars. In other words, phones are great, but cars aren’t phones. While I agree with the all this, my initial take was that I just didn’t get the Ferrari connection. But then I started to look more closely.
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Let’s start with the steering wheel. Jony Ive apparently owns a Ferrari 250 Europa, and—surprise!—the basic shape of the Luce’s wheel looks like the one in his Europa. I get it. The Europa’s wheel was splendid: simple, unadorned, and just three elegant spokes. Except back in the middle of the 1950s when the Europa arrived, airbags weren’t even a glint in Ralph Nader’s eye. As such, the center circle on the Europa’s wheel is small. The Luce’s, however, has an airbag, so the center piece is much larger, and as a result the spokes are stumpier. Also, the two arrow buttons used for the turn signals look out of place if not entirely tacked on.
Speaking of tacked on, the two pods below the horizontal spokes not only appear glued in but are actually shaped like the first-generation Audi R8’s distinctive instrument clusters. Worse, both pods are jam-packed with teeny, tiny Ferrari buttons, switches, and knobs. We’re talking grab your reading glasses here. The whole look is reminiscent of some of the home video game/sim racing wheels made by Fanatec.
