The fallout from the reveal of the Ferrari Luce continues. The polarising design wiped $3 billion from Ferrari’s stock price overnight, and the reaction has been overwhelmingly negative. When we covered the launch, we tried to take a measured approach, but even we underestimated the scale of the backlash.

And the criticism reaches the very top. Former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo could barely conceal his disdain for the Ferrari Luce, the company’s first-ever EV.

Widely regarded as Enzo Ferrari’s spiritual successor, Di Montezemolo was one of the most influential figures in Ferrari’s modern history, leading the company from the early 1970s through to 2014.

He guided Ferrari’s Formula 1 team to championship glory with legends such as Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher.

He transformed Ferrari’s road car division, modernising the company and leaving it in the exceptionally strong position it still enjoys today.

Di Montezemolo is the archetype of the modern industrial leader — wherever he went, success followed. So when he saw the Ferrari Luce, his restrained criticism spoke volumes:

“At least the Chinese won’t copy it. If I were to say what I really think, I’d be doing Ferrari a disservice. They should remove the Ferrari badge from it.”

And frankly, he may have a point.

Ferrari arguably should have looked to China for guidance — or at the very least collaborated with a Chinese EV manufacturer. Right now, Chinese companies are setting the pace in EV technology, battery development, and software integration.

Alternatively, Ferrari could have leaned on Rimac if it wanted to keep development within Europe, although Rimac’s close ties to the Volkswagen Group likely complicated that route.

To Ferrari’s credit, the company chose to go its own way and develop much of the EV technology in-house. That ambition deserves recognition. But there is one problem no amount of engineering brilliance can solve: the Ferrari Luce is, aesthetically speaking, a disaster.

However advanced the technology underneath may be, the design is what people see first — and for many, it simply does not look like a Ferrari.