'Remove The Prancing Horse' Ex-Ferrari Boss Has Harsh Words For The Ferrari Luce

Despite the fact the Ferrari Luce has been anointed by God, it's failed to garner any sort of positive reaction from the general public. Hell, even the non-car enthusiasts in my life are asking me about this thing, but it's not just the plebs who are put off by the four-door Luce — its former Ferrari bosses, too. Luca di Montezemolo, who served as chairman of the company from 1991 until 2014. To this day, he's the longest-serving head of the company and was personally asked by Enzo Ferrari in the early 1970s to work as his personal assistant, so he's seen a thing or two, and he knows a thing or two.

During the Luce's launch event in Italy, di Montezemolo was asked by a scrum of journalists what he thought about the Jony Ive-designed sedan and, well, let's just say that his opinion isn't terribly different from the one you probably hold. Here's what he told the Italian news agency AskANews with — and i don't think this is hyperbole — tears in his eyes:

'If I were to say what I really think, I'd be doing Ferrari a disservice. We risk destroying a legend, and I'm truly sorry about that. I hope they at least remove the prancing horse from that car.'

By my count, there are eight prancing horses on the exterior of the Luce, and buyers can choose from either a traditional Scuderia Ferrari badge on the front fenders or a larger silver Prancing Horse with that weird little black cutout on the front doors, according to Motor1. What I'm saying is, there are horses all over this thing.

That wasn't the only brutal comment di Montezemolo made, either. Speaking to the media, the 78-year-old ex-Ferrari boss made what could almost be described as a morbid joke, saying the Luce is "certainly a car that at least the Chinese won't copy," Motor1 reports. That's just brutal stuff, man.

I guess it's important to keep in mind that while di Montezemolo was in charge of Ferrari, the company launched highlights such as — and lock in for this — the 355 Berlinetta, F50, 550 Maranello, 360 Modena, 575M Maranello, Challenge Stradale, Enzo, 612 Scaglietti, F430, 599 GTB Fiorano, 430 Scuderia, California, 458 Italia, 599 GTO, FF, F12 Berlinetta, 458 Speciale and LaFerrari. So, yeah, I guess you could say he knows what he's doing.

di Montezemolo wasn't the only person of import ringing the alarm bells, either. Italian government officials were thrown off by the Luce, and do you know what sort of colossal mess there has to be for the Italian government to talk badly about Ferrari? The country's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini, wrote about the car — taking issue with just about every aspect of the Luce, from its looks to its $600,000+ price tag in a social media post that also highlighted di Montezemolo's comments. Here's what he said:

Electric, outrageously expensive (550 thousand euros!) and, from an aesthetic point of view, it speaks for itself... It looks like anything but a car from the Prancing Horse. And this is supposed to be "innovation"? Who knows what Enzo Ferrari would say...

It's hard to know exactly where Ferrari went wrong with the Luce. I mean, even the best reactions I've seen have been "at least it's not boring" and "I'd like it if it wasn't a Ferrari." Neither of these are ringing endorsements. I suppose time will tell if the Luce at least drives like a Ferrari, but I suspect the list of journalists allowed to drive the car is getting smaller by the day as it gets repeatedly dunked on.