The Tifosi are furious, and they are aiming at the wrong target. The Ferrari Luce, Maranello’s first production electric car, was unveiled near Rome on 25 May to a wave of revulsion. “A Nissan Leaf with a prancing horse,” said the internet. Nissan, delighted, leaned in and thanked Ferrari for the compliment. The market was less amused. Ferrari shares fell more than eight per cent in Milan and over five per cent in New York the next morning. For a marque that has sold beauty for almost eighty years, that is a remarkable thing to do with a single reveal.

But the styling is not the story. The styling is a symptom.

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A Chinese carmaker just out-engineered the people who invented the prestige limousine.

The Nio ET9 is the proof. Watch what its suspension does to a broken road, then watch a BMW or an Audi attempt the same. One glides. The others crash about like farm equipment.

▶ Watch on YouTube

Nio pitches the ET9 as an executive flagship and the cabin earns it: four seats, reclining rear thrones, a fridge and screens everywhere. Nio reckons the ride is “comparable to cruising in a business jet”. On this evidence that is not the usual launch-day hyperbole.

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