Pininfarina, the legendary Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, is apparently going to expand its field of expertise. It is making plans to start manufacturing electric cars. If the reports are to be believed, the Italian firm will focus only on premium segment and will soon unveil its first electric car at the next Geneva Motor Show.
Pininfarina, now owned by Mahindra Group, already has a new electric car under development. With Mahindra's expertise in Formula-E and general electric, Pininfarina would utilise all the resources optimally. The initial plan is to launch one product for sale but there are other models too down the pipeline which includes an SUV, a sedan and a crossover or hot-hatch. All these ideas will take time to become a reality and Pininfarina is expecting to complete it in a time period of 3 to 5 years. Markets like the USA and Western Europe will be targeted in the starting days of the sales.
Commenting on this news, Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Group, said, “That (manufacturing cars) was the dream of the founders of Pininfarina. So when we acquired it - I personally made a promise to them that when we invest we will fulfil the dream of the original founder of Pininfarina.”
Like we mentioned before, Pininfarina's primary concern will cater to the needs of the premium segment of electric cars. This automatically means that the product will have top-class features. But would everything be sufficient enough to compete against Tesla? That we'll have to wait and watch.
Source
