Companies keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Updating a logo, a recipe, or the look of a core product is seen as a purely cosmetic change that customers are simply expected to accept without question. Then, completely out of the blue—at least for company executives—they realize that customers have a significant say in a brand’s direction.

Want some recent examples? Coca-Cola’s new formula for “New Coke” in 1985, Jaguar’s redesign in 2025, and now the Ferrari Luce, set to be the Italian luxury automaker’s first electric sports car. The public’s reaction to the new Ferrari was swift—and brutal.

Following persistent protests, Coca-Cola was forced to bring back the old formula and quietly discontinued New Coke. More than a year later, Jaguar still hasn’t put its new cars on the road, and there are fears that Jaguar may not release any new cars at all. And now, Ferrari is shocking the brand’s fans with the design it has unveiled. Former Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo, expressing his disappointment, simply said that there was one danger that did not exist: that this Ferrari would be copied by the Chinese.

Ferrari had even gone so far as to bring in the legendary Apple designer and car enthusiast Jony Ive to handle the design.

But all the reactions point to one thing: a company may own the brand, but it doesn’t own the customers. Because they are the ones who determine whether a brand has a future. Change is inevitable, but how it is handled determines the success or failure of a rebranding and a renewal.

I have to admit, my first reaction to the Ferrari Luce—without really feeling anything for Ferrari or being a fan—was: oh, a Honda! If it were one, it would have been a success. I also have nothing against the colors. Finally, a change of pace. But for Ferrari’s conservative clientele, it’s all too much—not to mention the rather disappointing performance figures for a vehicle that’s supposed to cost half a million. As was already evident at CES 2026, Chinese vacuum cleaner manufacturers—like Dreame’s Kosmera—are now making more interesting supercars than Ferrari.

With the Luce, two factors have likely come together that are so disappointing to fans. To understand the first factor, we need to look at the technical term “skeuomorphism.” This refers to a new technology that mimics an old design or an old technology. For example, rotary dials on a digital screen, or the fact that the phone book on the iPhone still had lines and rings, as was common in physical phone books for turning the pages.

At Apple, Steve Jobs was famously a big fan of skeuomorphism, while Jony Ive wanted strictly clean lines and eliminated skeuomorphism whenever the opportunity arose. While skeuomorphism may seem anachronistic at first glance and fails to fully capture the potential of new technology, it does serve a purpose: it gives customers a sense of familiarity wrapped up in something new. And that’s more important than you might think. Because too many changes at once overwhelm users. A gradual approach is more effective.

Remember the first hybrid or electric cars from Honda or GM? They looked very futuristic in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The problem? They were too futuristic. Not only was the powertrain different, but so was the appearance, and that deterred many customers from buying these cars. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recognized this and stuck to a familiar design for the exterior of his electric cars, similar to that of combustion-engine vehicles. While he let his creativity run wild with the interior, from the outside they looked no different from gasoline and diesel cars.

At Ferrari, Jony Ive apparently didn’t have a counterbalancing figure like Steve Jobs, who championed skeuomorphism. Only once customers accept the new vehicle can the next steps be taken and the reminders of old designs and technologies be removed.

A second factor was likely the former iCar project at Apple. Under the codename Titan and led by Ive, Apple had a project underway to develop a self-driving car. A sum in the tens of billions is said to have been spent on it, and some of the design ideas apparently found their way into the Ferrari Luce. And that simply doesn’t work for a manufacturer that embodies supercars and the thrill of driving them yourself. What is a sports car that you don’t drive yourself? This raises existential questions for Ferrari and its fans.

One thing is clear, however: there is no turning back for Ferrari either. The Luce will likely be a flop, but Ferrari will probably have to deliver a compelling electric car very soon.