Rarely has a new Ferrari divided opinion as much as the new all-electric Luce. This time, though, it’s not the thousand-horsepower electric power that people are up in arms about, it’s the design.
We’ve been here before, when Jaguar unveiled its Type 00 concept, the precursor to the Type 01 production car. That car was even criticised by Donald Trump, while the Ferrari appeared to have a more influential fan when Pope Leo checked out the new Luce.
Ferrari’s move into the EV world comes as every other major manufacturer has either already produced EVs or is planning them – even though some of Ferrari’s rivals have rowed back on their plans. It also comes as European car makers – including Ferrari – are threatened by an onslaught of new Chinese brands.
One such brand is Yangwang, the posh performance division of Chinese car giant BYD. The Yangwang U9 is officially the world’s fastest production car, having reached a top speed of 496 km/h (308mph).
On a visit to BYD’s China HQ in the city of Shenzhen, The Independent asked Stella Li, BYD’s executive vice-president and recently voted World Car Person of the Year, what she thought of the new Ferrari Luce and whether the Yangwang U9 was actually a better electric Ferrari than the real electric Ferrari.
“It’s very interesting. For me, for my personal taste, I think I agree a lot with people's comments on the internet. But then also you can find that very funny,” said Li.
“Some people put it in comparison with BYD U9. And then, in the performance side, I was very surprised. At BYD, we continue to push our car to be the fastest car on the planet; [the Yangwang U9 Xtreme] has three thousand horsepower. This is kind of technology really builds excitement for this cool niche, and the top speed nobody can reach.
“Our engineers – young engineers – they enjoy this a lot. Every day, they say, ‘oh, are they better than me? No, the next day I will be better than them.’ So, this is fun, like a complication inside R&D. This is their big, baby hobby if you do that.”
Pushed to give a smile or a snear depending on how she really felt about the Luce, Li smiled and laughed, saying, “I cannot comment too much. I agree with a lot of people. I like it, but I prefer the U9 – the U9 is much better.”
To properly compete with the likes of Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes and Audi, BYD might have to compete in motorsports, with rumours rife that BYD is considering an entry into Formula One. Stella Li was spotted at the Chinese Grand Prix back in March and speaking to The Independent this week she said: “We are very interested in motorsports. We are talking with different people, trying to learn and what this Formula One platform can carry and speak about BYD technology in the industry. We are trying to understand better on the subject, but we did not make any relation yet.”
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