Why is Ferrari facing such a backlash to its first electric car?

The Italian marque has broken with the past with its four-door, €550,000 Luce and traditionalists are furious

Ferrari is different from other carmakers, and so are its product launches. So revered is the company in its native Italy that among the first people to sit behind the wheel of its first electric vehicle were the country’s president, and the pope.

Yet judging by the backlash from investors, some critics and – inevitably – a horde of online commenters, the sportscar manufacturer may need help from a higher power if it is to win over its traditional fanbase.

The Luce (pronounced “loo-chey”, Italian for “light”) is priced for the super-wealthy, at €550,000 (£476,000), with an electric motor for each wheel and the ability to get from zero to 100km/h in 2.5 seconds. But the design, led by the former Apple executive Jony Ive, has proven controversial. It is certainly unlike any Ferrari has made before.