Pininfarina is probably the most important name in car manufacturing that non-car-nuts have never heard of. The Italian coachbuilder and design firm has been making automotive dreams a reality since 1930, collaborating with a roster of clients that includes Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Maserati (not to mention an array of rail, yacht, interior design and aviation companies).
Basically the only thing they haven’t built, until now? A car bearing their own name.
But that’s about to change thanks to a new electric supercar that will allegedly log a 0-100 KPH (or 0-62 MPH) time of less than two seconds, according to Automotive News. Due for a 2020 release date, Pininfarina’s roadster will boast a price tag of around $2.5 million an a 300-mile range — or nearly 10 times the price and less than half the range of the similarly sporty Tesla Roadster.
So where’s the upside? “It will be a true hypercar,” Automobili Pininfarina CEO Michael Perschke told Automotive News. In other words: luxury and exclusivity.
Automobili Pininfarina, as mentioned, is a new “sustainable luxury car brand” descended from Pininfarina SpA, the aforementioned coachbuilder that dates back nearly 90 years. The photo above is their $2.5 million H2 Speed hydrogen hypercar, not the EV (of which no images have been released). As Jalopnik points out, this years-old concept has yet to be produced or sold in any substantial way. But Pininfarina says they intend to build 12 models of this one, with other, more practical electric models — like an SUV — to follow.
And if and when it does become a reality, you can forget about the Tesla comparisons. This one has its sights leveled at the Bugattis and McLarens of the world.
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