Yahoo Autos Pininfarina Will Build Its Own Version of the Rimac EV Hypercar
New eras bring strange alliances. We imagine that Battista “Pinin” Farina would have been surprised to learn that his eponymous company, which he grew into Italy’s most famous styling house, would one day be owned by an Indian automaker and be poised to enter a technical alliance with a Croatian one. But that’s how far the sands have shifted, and for the first time in its 88-year history, Pininfarina is set to become a manufacturer in its own right. The company, now owned by India’s Mahindra Group, has launched a new carmaking division, Automobili Pininfarina. And this offshoot has announced that its first product will be an ultra-high-performance pure-electric coupe called the PF0, which will share its core architecture with the forthcoming Rimac C_Two.
Pininfarina has been a subsidiary of Mahindra, best known outside Asia for its licensed versions of early Jeeps, since 2015. The new offshoot was announced at the 2018 Formula E race in Rome. The company has released only two highly stylized sketches of the PF0. But, behind the scenes at the unveiling, journalists were also shown apparently accurate renderings of what the finished car will look like.
Although striking, the PF0’s exterior design sticks closely to the established form language of the mid-engined supercar; Pininfarina hasn’t followed Aston Martin’s lead with the radical EV-enabled proportions of the forthcoming Lagonda. In profile, the PF0 resembles the Ferrari 488, and there is something McLaren-like about the sketches of the rear end that we were shown (not released for publication on grounds that design work is still ongoing, particularly at the back). The tail will feature dual active wing elements, one on each side, while the front end has a distinctive arrowhead shape that is visible in the design sketches. The production version will supposedly get a modern take on the pop-up headlight: flaps that power down to uncover the main lights when needed.
We’re told that the cabin architecture has been designed around the need to accommodate the sizable battery pack, which will run down the centerline of the car, ahead of the two seats. The driver’s position features offset display screens on either side of the steering wheel as well as a head-up display projecting information onto the windshield. Pininfarina promises that, as with the closely related Rimac, the PF0 will be able to offer high-level autonomy.
While there is no official confirmation of the partnership, Automobili Pininfarina insiders have said that the PF0 and Rimac are being developed together. Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, wouldn’t admit to the Rimac connection when C/D spoke to him in Rome, but he did say, “It is a company as unique as Pininfarina, not in terms of age but in terms of uniqueness, and is arguably a wunderkind of the business today.”
Mahindra has released “indicative performance targets” for the PF0. These are a zero-to-62- mph time of under 2.0 seconds, a zero-to-186-mph time below 12.0 seconds, a top speed greater than 250 mph, and a range of up to 310 miles. Those numbers are broadly similar to those that Rimac has already released for the C_Two.
Although Automobili Pininfarina CEO Michael Perschke refused to give a power output for the PF0 other than saying it would be “into four figures,” it seems likely that it will share the Rimac’s 1888-hp total output and, we presume, much of that car’s previously disclosed technical package: an 800-volt system (equal to that of the Porsche Mission E), a 120.0-kWh lithium-ion battery pack, and four oil-cooled electric motors, one at each wheel, with the rear pair delivering torque through two-speed gearboxes.
The PF0 will be launched in 2020 and produced in what we’re told will be strictly limited numbers. Perschke said there won’t be more than 100 copies and hinted that a limit of 90 might be chosen to coincide with Pininfarina’s 90th anniversary. The price will be equally serious; we’re told to expect it to be around $2.4 million before local taxes. Prior to launch, the car will be shown to potential buyers in various places, including private viewings to be held around the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in late August. As such, the pitch is very much to collectors and the sort of ultra-high-net-worth individuals drawn to rival hypercars.
“The first ten or 20 people who buy this car will determine how the brand will be perceived,” Perschke said.
Anand Mahindra also made the point that many previous Pininfarina-designed models, such as the six Ferrari Sergio cars built in 2014, have increased in value since they were first sold. “I think there is a relevant analogy to the art world,” he said. “A lot of people buy cars because they appreciate all the time, particularly if they are limited editions and they are unique . . . Look at the Sergio that was sold a few years ago for $3 million, and they are now being auctioned for [asking prices of] $5 million.”
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Although the PF0 will be Pininfarina’s debut production car, the firm has extensive experience in designing supercars for other manufacturers as well as stunning concepts under its own name (the 2016 H2 Speed seems to have previewed several parts of the PF0). Yet this will be, as Perschke puts it, “the first time we have put the badge on the front rather than the side.”
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