Pininfarina plotting luxury EV onslaught

Automobili Pininfarina has announced it will stage the world debut of its PURA Vision electric vehicle concept in North America in the second half of 2020 – and it will be just the first in a series of battery-powered all-electric models.

The news comes just months after the Italian brand unveiled its first hyper-EV, the 1420kW Pininfarina Battista super-coupe.

The PURA Vision concept will ride on a new EV platform developed alongside Bosch and Benteler, which will be made available to other car-makers.

Pininfarina says it has a series of major investments and initiatives underway that will see it develop into “one of the world’s leading luxury automotive companies” including multiple EV product lines.

According to its chief executive, Michael Perschke, a new manufacturing facility will be opened in Italy in 2020 to create the new models.

“Our strategic collaboration with Bosch and Benteler unlocks the opportunity for growth, through development of high performance EV architecture to deployed by Automobili Pininfarina and potentially other OEM clients,” he said.

“The launch of Battista heralded the arrival of our exciting new brand, and these are the plans that give us a strong platform for future success.”

Another initiative the brand has recently launched alongside Mahindra Racing is called Hyperdrive, where hypercar buyers can test drive EV road cars at the Calafat Circuit in Spain before having test laps in a Formula E race car.