Marc Newson and his team discuss the challenges and innovations of the Ferrari Luce

The internet loves a controversy. The online commentariat will no doubt have plenty more to say about the new Ferrari Luce, even though no one outside of the company will get to drive the car for many months. It also feels facile to qualify the design as ‘controversial’ when the vast majority of naysayers haven’t seen the Luce in the metal.

Wallpaper* has. At the launch event in Rome, Marc Newson, and his colleagues Jeremy Bataillou and Christopher Wilson, talked through the genesis of the car, designed with Jony Ive and the rest of the LoveFrom team, while chief tester Raffaele de Simone gave his impressions of what it will be like to drive.

‘We were trying to get our heads around how to solve the challenges of five seats and four doors – challenges we’d not only expect but which we’d look forward to trying to solve,’ says Newson. ‘Pretty early on, we came up with the idea of the glass house or passenger cell – an element that encapsulates the interior. That in turn enabled us to separate – at least intellectually – the body of the car.’

Image 1 of 2

The bodywork contains aerodynamic surfaces that envelop the passenger cell

Front and rear wing are integrated into bodywork

Describing the glazed upper body and the aluminium-panelled bodywork as ‘two design elements that work in unison’, Newson walks us around the way the two interact. ‘You have the passenger cell that sits within the body of the car, expressed obviously through colour but also with a physical gap from the body,’ he explains. ‘The cell is a smooth, aerodynamic object that starts right at the very front of the car and extends seamlessly all the way to the back.’ As for the impact of optional colours and trim over and above the curated and colour-matched launch quintet, Newson is philosophical. ‘It’s quite controlled – the options are prescriptive,’ he says, ‘it’s not a free for all.’

The bodywork doubles as the primary aero form, from the big front wing, ‘where you’d normally have a bonnet, to the wing at the back doing the same thing, but with a smaller gap’. Subtle aerodynamic details abound, like the hidden knurling underneath the ‘bonnet’ wing to break up the airflow over the windscreen into many individual channels, reducing wind noise.

Image 1 of 3

The rear seats offer space for three, with a flat floor and excellent leg room

The rear-hinged rear doors are electrically operated

The Ferrari Luce's dashboard

The benefits of Ferrari’s bespoke electric platform are plain to see on the interior. ‘The amount of interior space we’ve eked out of this platform is really impressive – it’s a bit like a Tardis,’ Newson says. According to Newson, the rear-opening door creates the best sense of distinction between inside and out, creating a portal that you step through to the spacious interior. A completely flat floor enables three across at the rear, and the electrically reclinable rear seats are also mounted slightly higher than the front.

‘We really wanted to touch on everything, to make sure everything felt in sync, right down to the user interface,’ Newson concludes. The ‘key ceremony’, wherein the e-ink faced rectangular key sinks into the glass centre console to activate the car, is just one of many ultra-focused details.

We especially like the way the controls indicate the current cabin temperature to help guide you to the right setting. Every spin of the (real) needles on the digital dials and embedded clock/chronometer is paired with an equally satisfying on-screen animation; nothing flashy or distracting, just pure graphical simplicity.

Image 1 of 5

The multifunctional chronograph incorporates physical hands

The roof-mounted launch control system

Rear passengers have a separate screen for controls and information

The wheel contains controls for traction as well as energy and power management

Every aluminium switch has a precise, exacting action

Behind the wheel

All this painstaking work was undertaken closely with the dedicated team of engineers and drivers at Ferrari, led by Raffaele de Simone. In a demonstration that’s somewhat akin to having a Michelin-starred chef describe a dish rather than let you taste it, de Simone attempted to convey the way in which the Luce’s performance upends tradition.

‘In the past, if you wanted more performance you had to reduce comfort and space. More comfort, and you had less performance. In the Luce, this relationship has been redrawn,’ he enthuses. De Simone attempts to describe how the complex approach to throttle mapping and power delivery doesn’t dump maximum power the millisecond you depress the accelerator. He implies that Ferrari test drivers – let alone ‘regular’ Ferrari customers – simply aren’t ready for these levels of torque.

Instead, the power is sliced, albeit not in way that is nostalgically linked to the revs of an engine. Then there’s the noise – amplified in the cabin in performance mode and projected out via front and rear speakers. ‘The sound helps the driver manage the car,’ de Simone says. ‘We didn’t want a fake nostalgic sound… there’s no reference to other Ferraris.’

Challenged as to whether or not the traction control can be completely disengaged (someone, somewhere, always thinks they know better), the test driver shrugged and said no. ‘It would be like having a horse in a bathroom full of glasses,’ he said in thickly accented Italian, a vivid mental picture indeed. ‘We give you the tools to go around a roundabout until the tyres die,’ he adds.

Will the future Luce ownership cadre be seeking this kind of experience or simply want a Ferrari badge, regardless of the better ergonomics, less inconvenience and the – much overlooked – ability to turn up somewhere without announcing your arrival with a fanfare of largely unwanted noise?

As previously noted, this is luxury motoring without the traditional signifiers – not brave, just different, and perfectly on brand for a company born of innovation and individuality.

Ferrari Luce, $550,000 / £438,406 + delivery, Ferrari.com, @Ferrari