• Automobili Pininfarina to launch its first electric hypercar in 2020
• It will be benefited from Pininfarina’s rich automotive heritage.
• Built from ground up, the new brand will be based in Europe yet backed by Mahindra’ Formula E expertise.
It’s official! Pininfarina was reportedly planning to establish itself as a fully-fledge electric car maker. Now,at a special press conference in Rome on the eve of 2018 Formula E race, the legendary Italian coach builder has officially announced Automobili Pininfarina as an all-new ‘sustainable luxury’ car brand.
The first product will be a halo hypercar promised to roll out in 2020. The brand will be led by ex-Audi India CEO Michael Perschke whom Mahindra had hired to lead the upcoming electric projects. Prior to the establishment as a separate brand, Pininfarina Automobili was internaly referred as Project Montana. The first product is codenamed as PF-Zero. The ‘Pininfarina’ branded hypercar will be “offering extreme performance”, according to the newfound carmaker.
Pininfarina Automobili plans to have four cars in the next five years after first product at the start of the decade. The Chiron rivalling hypercar will be followed by three electric SUVs. The biggest of the three SUVs is speculated to be called the PF1 and it will be eyeing the Lamborghini Urus, Porsche Cayenne and the likes as a performance SUV. The Croatian electric supercar maker Rimac will also reportedly be working in conjunction with Mahindra Racing Formula E team for the powertrains. Although details are scarce right now, we can expect the PF-Zero to pack more than 1500bhp from its electric powertrain.
Mahindra, the parent company of Pininfarina, is said to have invested around 100 million USD (approx. Rs 660 crores) for the new brand. Pininfarina has been showcasing interest to build its own models for quite some time. The current CEO, Paulo Pininfarina, had said, “My father’s dream was to build a car company and his father’s dream was also to build a car company. Now I plan for that dream to come true.”
