Pininfarina Plugs In for its First-Ever Car
The iconic design firm hits the streets with a hypercar of its own.Â
When you think of Pininfarina, you probably picture an impossibly beautiful Ferrari or Fiat, or… a Coke machine. But whatever your favorite design is from the iconic design and coachbuilding firm, you probably didn’t see this coming.
In 2015, Indian conglomerate Mahindra bought the firm, and since then, it’s been quietly creating a new automotive production arm for it. The result is Automobili Pininfarina. And come 2019, the company will release its first-ever car, the all-electric PF0 Hypercar.
Now if you seem to remember another Pininfarina-badged car from the past, you’d be correct. From 1983 to ’85, the iconic Fiat 124 Spider was sold in the U.S. as a Pininfarina model. But that was just a simple badge job. The PF0 Hypercar is all-new, and by that, we mean all-new.
So far, details on the car are still pretty murky. Still, it sounds like the car will easily live up to its name. According to Electrek, the PF0 Hypercar will be completely proprietary – so no Ferrari/Fiat DNA here. It will sprint from zero to 60 in under two seconds. Top speed is reportedly 250 miles per hour. It will go up to 310 miles on a single charge, and most importantly for a hypercar, it will be expensive and exclusive. The company estimates a 200-car production run, with 50 earmarked for the United States. It will carry a seven-figure price tag too.
As for the powertrain, the PF0 will be powered by two electric motors that crank out a massive 1.2 to 1.4 megawatts of power. Like Porsche’s upcoming Taycan, it will use an 800-watt combo charging system. This should recharge the car to 80% battery in under 20 minutes. In all, it looks like the PF0 Hypercar’s primary competitor is the upcoming Tesla Roadster. But with that company’s troubles, we’re thinking we’ll see the Italian competitor long before Elon Musk and company get around to their second-generation sports car.
So for the first time in its illustrious history, Pininfarina is stepping out with its own (albeit exclusive) production car. And in lock-step with the times, it’s an EV. We can’t wait to see more as it gets closer to production. Who knows, maybe it’ll even give its old pals in Maranello a run for their money.
