This SUV Concept Has Just Won the Red Dot Design Award

• Pininfarina PURA Vision concept receives prestigious Red Dot design award in the Design Concept category.

• The 2023 concept features a coupe-shape SUV bodystyle and an electric powertrain, and was inspired in part by the 1947 Cisitalia.

• Automobili Pininfarina currently offers the Battista supercar but has hinted that the PURA Vision concept will inspire the next generation of its cars.
  

Since 1955 the Red Dot Design Award has been one of the top prizes in the sphere of industrial design, with the award given in three categories each year: Product Design, Brands and Communication Design, and Design Concept.

This year the Pininfarina PURA Vision concept won the third category, after its reveal last summer at The Quail.

The coupe-style SUV, featuring a cab-rear profile, might seem relatively modern as a bodystyle, but the Italian carrozzeria was inspired by elements of the 1947 Cisitalia in sculpting the high fenders and low hood of the vehicle.

Formally a 2+2, the PURA Vision features pillarless, tri-opening lounge doors, inspired by the Lancia Florida penned by Battista Farina in the 1950s.

"PURA Vision embraces the DNA of iconic vehicles from Pininfarina’s past, to shape the future with sharp lines and a modern aesthetic. It is distinctive from every angle and showcases our PURA design philosophy which is inspiring the next generation of our cars," said Dave Amantea, Chief Design Officer at Automobili Pininfarina.

The PURA Vision concept is still something of a departure for Italy's Pininfarina SpA, which has been a design consultancy since 1930. But its independent automaking division—Automobili Pininfarina, based in Munich, Germany—has been around for only about six years, currently offering the sleek Battista supercar. India's Mahindra owns both companies.

While the PURA Vision concept featured a rather complete and perhaps even production-plausible interior, we also noted the vehicle's rather modest greenhouse and 23-inch wheels, which lent the concept the appearance of a donk, to use a technical term.

The concept is electric, of course, but also fully a product of its time when it comes to exterior dimensions, with an overall length of 205 inches. This makes it one of the largest concepts fielded by the design studio in quite some time.

Will the PURA Vision concept end up being a preview of something we could see from Pininfarina in production form at some point this decade?

We're still rather skeptical of its production prospects, if only because there are already so many large electric crossovers on the market, but the company CEO did note during its reveal that the concept "previews an exciting future" for Pininfarina. So we can't rule it out.

"Winning the Red Dot Award: Design Concept is a huge honor for the brand and testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team," Amantea added.

It remains to be seen if the future will be full of coupe-shaped electric crossovers with oversized wheels, but so far Pininfarina has a worryingly prescient track record when it comes to automotive design.

Is Pininfarina's concept a realistic preview of vehicle body styles we could see in the future, or is it more of a caricature? Let us know what you think in the comments below.