Ferrari Luce name was used by Mazda long before Ferrari’s EV
29/05/2026
Long before Maranello used it, Luce was already a Mazda. And not just any Mazda.
The original Mazda Luce was one of the most elegant cars the Japanese brand ever made, designed with Italian influence, clean proportions and a quiet kind of beauty that suddenly makes Ferrari’s name choice feel a little more complicated. Especially now that the Ferrari Luce design is receiving so much criticism.
The original Luce arrived in 1966
Mazda introduced the first Luce on 20 August 1966 as its flagship model. It was a rear-wheel-drive sedan, but the real magic was in the design. The body was based on an original concept by Giorgetto Giugiaro during his time at Bertone, long before he became one of the most influential car designers in history.
That already makes the story brilliant. Ferrari launches an electric car called Luce in 2026, but the name was already attached to a Japanese flagship with Italian design DNA almost 60 years earlier. And honestly, the Mazda was beautiful.
Mazda’s Luce meant “bright” too
The name was not random for Mazda either. Luce also came from the Italian word meaning bright or shiny, which perfectly suited a car that was meant to feel modern, elegant and above the Japanese market standard of its time.
The first-generation Luce was spacious, refined and advanced for its class. It even featured a newly developed SOHC engine producing 78 PS, with a claimed top speed of 150 km/h. That may sound modest today, but in the mid-1960s, this was Mazda clearly trying to move upward.
Then came the Luce Rotary Coupe
In 1969, Mazda made the story even better with the Luce Rotary Coupe. And this thing was special. It used a 655 cc x 2 rotary engine, produced 126 PS and reached a top speed of 190 km/h. Even more interesting: it combined a rotary engine with front-wheel drive, a layout Mazda never really repeated in the same way.
Fewer than 1,000 units were built, making the Luce Rotary Coupe one of Mazda’s most fascinating forgotten icons. It was expensive, stylish and technically unusual. In Japan, it was nicknamed “Lord of the Road” because of its high price, beautiful design and high-speed performance.
The timing is brutal for Ferrari
This would all be a fun footnote if the Ferrari Luce had been universally praised. But it has not. The design has taken serious criticism. Many people find it difficult, awkward or simply not emotional enough for Ferrari’s first EV. The idea of a silent, fully electric, five-seat Ferrari was already going to be controversial. The visual execution only made the debate louder.
That is why the Mazda comparison becomes interesting. Because when people look back at the original Mazda Luce, they see something simple and elegant. When they look at the Ferrari Luce, many see a car trying very hard to define a new future, but not necessarily winning everyone over.
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This is a brilliant little twist. Ferrari probably wanted Luce to feel clean, poetic and forward-looking. And in theory, it does. Light. Illumination. A new electric era. The symbolism is obvious.
But then Mazda appears from the past with a Giugiaro-designed flagship and reminds everyone that the name already had automotive beauty attached to it. And honestly? That Mazda Luce has aged very well.
