Pininfarina PF0’s sleek 402km/h exterior teased

Pininfarina stunned the automotive world when it announced at the Geneva motor show in March that it will become the world’s first electric luxury car maker.

Then the Italian coachbuilder – which has produced some of the world’s most beautiful cars for Ferrari, Maserati, Rolls-Royce and Cadillac – did it again in April, when it said its inaugural model will benefit from a technology tie-up with Croatian EV hypercar maker Rimac to deliver Bugatti Chron levels of performance by 2020.

Now the renamed Automobili Pininfarina, which was plucked from bankruptcy by India’s Mahindra, has released the first full exterior teaser images of the PF0, which the company said in late April will hit 100km/h in less than two seconds on its way to a top speed in excess of 250mph (402.5km/h).

The Pininfarina PF0, which will also offer a claimed 300-mile (483km/h) driving range, shows some similarities to the Pininfarina H2 Speed concept it revealed at the 2016 Geneva show, including its trademark back-swept windscreen.

“Pininfarina has an unprecedented heritage of delivering cars that are both beautiful to look at and technically innovative,” said Pininfarina Automobili Design Director Luca Borgogno at an event in New York.

“Creating this combination in the first Pininfarina-branded road car is a dream come true. The design of PF0 will espouse purity, beauty and innovation.

“Working closely with Pininfarina SpA we have created three new images that give prospective owners an exciting preview of the design features we will introduce on this incredible hypercar.”

Automobili Pininfarina CEO Michael Perschke also announced plans to bring on board ex-Formula 1 racer Nick Heidfeld to help develop the PF0 from early, prior to the all-electric hypercar’s “on-sale date of late-2020”.

“PF0 is borne from the 50-year-old dream of Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina, to see a stand-alone Pininfarina-branded range of cars that are both beautiful and technologically advanced. PF0 will deliver enormous power and driver thrills in abundance,” said Perschke.

“We have a specific strategy in place to develop road car technology inspired by motorsport. Nick Heidfeld has more experience racing in Formula E than any other driver and we are delighted that from next year he will help deliver race-bred, electrifying performance in PF0.”

Launched in Rome in April, Automobili Pininfarina expects North America to be the PF0’s largest market “given the passionate interest in both electric-power and Pininfarina-designed cars.

Therefore the new business says it is “now engaging with prospective retailer partners as it seeks to deliver world-class client care as part of its specialist vehicle ownership strategy”.

“Clients of PF0 and the future portfolio of Automobili Pininfarina luxury cars will find ownership as enjoyable, effortless and exciting as it is driving them,” said Perschke, who confirmed the PF0 will be revealed during Monterey Car Week in August.

“We fully intend to partner with the world’s best luxury car retailers in order to help deliver on that promise: a true team effort and one-to-one experience that online sales can never deliver.

“We plan to enhance the important partnerships we are developing with these retailers by inviting them and their clients to personalise PF0 experiences during Monterey Car Week in August this year.

“These briefings will be by invitation only and will be the first time prospective customers have the opportunity to view our groundbreaking, beautiful hypercar ahead of production in 2020.”