Pininfarina is getting into the electric vehicle
market – not just by designing cars for other marques, but by launching its
own. And here we have our first look at what to expect. Called the PF0, the
forthcoming new hyper-EV promises to deliver otherworldly performance.
Following recent reports, Automobili Pininfarina now
confirms that the vehicle will be able to reach 100 km/h from a standstill in under two seconds. It’ll hit 300 km/h in less
than twelve. It’ll top out at 400 km/h, and travel for a distance of 500 km between charges.
To design the new hypercar, Pininfarina has
recruited one Luca Borgogno. Not to be confused (should you be so inclined)
with the volleyball player of the same name, Borgogno headed up Lamborghini’s
design studio in Turin before movinga year and a half ago back to Pininfarina
(where he started his career).
Now he’ll serve as design director at Automobili
Pininfarina. We’re not quite sure what that means for the automaker’s
association with the design house from which parent company Mahindra has spun
it off. But you can expect Borgogno to play a key role at the new automaker,
alongside CEO Michael Perschke (former director of Audi in India).
By that timeframe, we can expect to see the PF0
revealed towards the end of 2020. Hopefully we’ll see more of it along the way,
with the new brand’s first presence to be felt at Pebble Beach this summer.
After the PF0, we can anticipate more EVs to follow, which we’re expecting to
include an array of electric crossovers.
The sketches revealed here ostensibly represent
Borgogno’s first design for Pininfarina. We can, however, see the design
house’s influence in the renderings, particularly around the nose (which looks
similar to the Ferrari Sergio‘s). Overall the design looks pretty slick so far,
its shape unburdened by the cooling requirements typically placed on the
styling of exotics powered by internal-combustion engines. Suffice it to say,
we’re looking forward to seeing how it shapes up, so to speak.
