Out of the studio and into production, global designer to build electric hypercar…
A new electric hypercar has been announced, from a well-known and well-established name. Presently codenamed PFO, this new machine will be built by Automobili Pininfarina and it is set to be with us by 2020. The company has been launched by Mahindra & Mahindra, India’s largest car manufacturer and the world’s largest manufacturer of tractors in the world… This is a serious global player, and when not making tractors it has been doing rather well in the Formula E race programme, so the knowledge and the financial clout is there for this new project to be taken very seriously.
PRODUCTION PININFARINA
It will certainly be taken seriously if the proposed performance figures are to be achieved; a 0 – 62mph sprint in less than two seconds (!), and a top speed of 250mph. Making extraordinary claims for a vehicle that hasn’t been built yet are pretty easy to make, but you are going to look a little foolish if you can’t back that up. It is also claimed that it will have a range of over 300 miles, which admittedly at full pelt could be achieved in a couple of hours, but again it’s a major claim. One man tasked with getting this hypercar driveable, is former Williams Formula 1 race driver Nick Heidfeld who now competes for Mahindra in Formula E.
Plans are for Automobili Pininfarina to offer “a range of extremely luxurious and high performance EV cars” all designed in partnership with Pininfarina Spa, the Italian stylist being majority owned by Mahindra & Mahindra. The date for the launch, 2020, is important as this is the 90th anniversary of Pininfarina itself and you have to admit that this hypercar will be a pretty good way to celebrate. The image here is all we have at the time of going to press, obviously more will be released over time and it’s going to be pretty important that they get it looking just right; given the heritage that the Italian stylist has, it needs to be a stunner, but then if you don’t like it, those acceleration claims will mean the Pininfarina PFO will be out of sight pretty quickly anyway!
