[Joxster]

Mahindra decides to foray into the world of luxury EVs with it's newly setup brand Automobili Pininfarina. They are planning to make an SUV competitor to the Bentley Bentayga & Range Rover. Quoting from the article however, "The first model from the brand, however, will be a nearly $2.5 million electric car capable of going 0 to 62 mph in less than 2 seconds". That is a serious claim, and if they do manage to pull it off, that is right up there with the Teslas & Rimacs
I hope they get the design right though! Personally, I'm not a big fan of the Bentayga's design, and would also dread to see anything that looks like most of the current Mahindra cars in the market.
Anand Mahindra, if you're reading this, please do allow them to be bold with the design, but don't allow it to be overboard

Bentley and Range Rover are about to get some competition from a new rival with a very familiar name. Automobili Pininfarina will be a stand-alone brand specializing in full-electric SUVs as a subsidiary of Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra.

Company chairman Anand Mahindra announced the creation of Automobili Pininfarina here on Friday.

The new automaker shares its name with the Italian design and engineering firm Pininfarina Spa, which Mahindra & Mahindra took over in 2015 after purchasing a controlling 76 percent stake in the company that is best known for its design work for Ferrari. While the two companies share the Pininfarina name, they will be run independently, according to a release.

Pininfarina Spa will design cars for the new brand, which will be led by Michael Perschke, whose 25 years in the auto industry include a three-year stint as Audi’s managing director in India.

Perschke said that Automobili Pininfarina’s range of electric SUVs would start at about 150,000 euros ($185,000), which would make them rivals to models such as the Bentley Bentayga and high-spec versions of the Range Rover.

The first model from the brand, however, will be a nearly $2.5 million electric car capable of going 0 to 62 mph in less than 2 seconds.

“It will be a true hypercar,” Perschke said of the model, which is due in 2020 and is expected to have a range of 500 km (300 miles).

Mahindra & Mahindra’s decision to create a new, European-based brand is part its strategy to increase its presence in a region where it has struggled for years.

Currently, India’s third-largest automaker sells about 1,000 units annually in Europe. Most of those sales are of the pickup version of the Goa in Italy and Spain. Mahindra & Mahindra also has a majority stake in South Korean automaker SsangYong, which sold 17,335 vehicles in Europe last year, according to data from market researcher JATO Dynamics.

Source

Cheers

[N.r.K]

Excellent move by Mahindra if they manage to deliver on the promised specs!
They can probably pull off a JLR of their own.
Pininfarina is a known brand. Should be easier to sell in the western and maybe even the chinese markets than than developing a completely new brand.
And with the electric revolution starting, its probably the best time to get a new brand going. There is definitely going to be a shake up in the auto industry in the next few years. And at least some of the established players who do not innovate fast enough will bite the dust eventually, leaving the market open to determined new guys.

All the best Mahindra!

Originally Posted by Joxster

I hope they get the design right though! Personally, I'm not a big fan of the Bentayga's design, and would also dread to see anything that looks like most of the current Mahindra cars in the market.
Anand Mahindra, if you're reading this, please do allow them to be bold with the design, but don't allow it to be overboard

Pininfarina is a design house. They have a reputation to uphold, I doubt it'll be anything like a Mahindra car in terms of design.

Eventually though, we may see some of the design cues from there trickling down to their desi cars. Like the Tigor is a mini Jag XC from some angles.

[sharktale]

Class move. Now I clearly understand the synergy behind the acquisition of the brands all this while. THIS, is what is strategic vision stands for, in my opinion. I had never connected the dots earlier.

Hypothetical combination I think :

1. Pininfarina's design.
2. EV motor through Reva
3. Mahindra's marketing/operations.

[Holyghost]

Originally Posted by Joxster

"The first model from the brand, however, will be a nearly $2.5 million electric car capable of going 0 to 62 mph in less than 2 seconds"

Cheers

Tesla had announced the Roadster at a starting price of $200k. So the Mahindra is planning a bigger car with similar performance at more than 10 times the price of a Tesla? Or is there a typo in the price?

[abhishek46]

Excellent!
However, they could have rather put this money into making an improved E20 with better range, width, space etc.
Leap before you learn to walk, that's the norm, nowadays!

[sanstorm]

Originally Posted by sharktale

Class move. Now I clearly understand the synergy behind the acquisition of the brands all this while. THIS, is what is strategic vision stands for, in my opinion. I had never connected the dots earlier.

Hypothetical combination I think :

1. Pininfarina's design.
2. EV motor through Reva
3. Mahindra's marketing/operations.

Hit the nail, for completeness add the Tech Mahindra ( rather erstwhile Satyam) for all the sophistication of software platform.

The HK Kinetic (China) is the target here in my opinion , over the Indian market as immediate beneficiary.

[i74js]

Mr. Mahindra knows how to stay in the limelight and this announcement again shows his vision and wisdom; he is able to get right kind of brands and talent alongside his homegrown brand that if he continues to move like this and is able to actually offer what he is committing to the world; he will soon be giving a tough competition to well established international players across markets and regions.

So far his success is mediocre, yet he commands a respect in the market and people love to work with him and concur with his vision of being the change maker.

[Joxster]

Sketches of the hypercar have been released, and published on Top Gear. Here is the first glimpse of the new 250mph Pininfarina 'PF0' electric hypercar.
A very interesting insight from this article, is that Anand Mahindra doesn't believe that the death of the ICE will happen in his lifetime.

Automotive start-ups love EVs. And they especially love supercar EVs. Minimal brand recognition doesn’t hurt when you’re talking (on-paper) insane performance figures, and concept car-nutty styling. But when the start-up in question is called Pininfarina, well this seriously gets your attention.

How many of the most beautiful cars ever made have worn the Pininfarina logo? Correct: more than you could shake a delicious giant bread-stick at, and not just Ferraris for that matter. Is Pininfarina well-placed to deliver a pure-electric hypercar that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best that AMG, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Pagani, and Porsche can do? Totally.

Following last week’s announcement in Rome, we know that Automobili Pininfarina will exist as a separate entity from Pininfarina SpA, that the new car will be designed by the amiable and absurdly talented Luca Borgogno (the man responsible for the 2010 Stratos reboot beloved of TG), and that the electrical architecture will be supplied by newcomer Rimac. No more than 90 are likely to be made, at a cost close to £1.7m a pop.

The body will be made of carbon fibre, the lights connect in a continuous strip left-to-right and feature an element that references the Seventies staple pop-up headlights, while the batteries will be housed behind the occupants and along the sides. The cockpit, meanwhile, is truly audacious, with a ‘vanishing point’ aspect to the main display, and an evident driver-centric layout. It looks genuinely fabulous, as it must with that weight of history bearing down on it.
Remember the performance claims? Course you do. Zero to 62mph in less than two seconds, 186mph in less than 12, onto a top speed of 250mph, with a projected range of 310 miles from the batteries (though not if you’re travelling at 250mph).

The question is, will it really happen? Former boss of Audi India, Michael Perschke, is Pininfarina’s CEO. “We now face a 30-month race to deliver our promise and the Pininfarina family’s dream: sustainable luxury, hyper-performance, and beautiful electric cars branded Pininfarina,” he says. “Our first car, codenamed PF0, will define us by its looks, performance and respectful integration of the Pininfarina heritage.”

The back-story is significant, not least because a plan this bold needs a backer with, if not fathomless pockets, then certainly pretty deep ones. Following various collaborations, the legendary Italian carrozzeria was acquired by Indian industrial giant Mahindra – it’s into cars, farm machinery, and energy, has 39,000 employees and $9.4bn in assets – back in 2015, a key factor in the project’s viability. TG was granted an audience with the company’s urbane and ultra-bright executive chairman Anand Mahindra – a graduate of Harvard’s film school, no less – during last weekend’s Formula E race in Rome (Mahindra has run a team in electric racing series since day one). He’s clear about the opportunity, and why Pininfarina is the correct brand to realise what is, by any reckoning, a fairly substantial ambition.

“This will enable us to fulfil our vision of participating at the very pinnacle of automotive design and manufacturing,” he says. “We believe we can’t stretch the Mahindra brand too far out, nor can you stretch the Pininfarina name too far down. Luxury is the meeting point of heritage and craftsmanship, which is what Pininfarina has. You can’t just create that. It would take 90 years to build what Pininfarina has.”

He also believes that the rise of self-driving EVs will split car use into three distinct categories: functional commuter cars “in which the brand might play a very minimal role”, according to Mahindra, who points to an extant deal his company has with the Indian government, and also a tie-up with Uber; cars bought by people who want to use them for recreation or at weekends; and thirdly, “cars that are bought purely because they are objects of desire, out of passion, passion for performance and beauty”.

Although he acknowledges the scale of the challenge, Mahindra is clear-eyed, romantic perhaps, but no dreamer. “If you’re aiming for middle-of-the-road goals, you short-change yourself and you’ve already lost the battle. This car is unique, and it will be unparalleled in beauty and performance. You have to shoot for that.”

The EV aspect is also critical. Automobili Pininfarina intends to develop the car with the right partners, rather than sinking a fortune into R&D and sabotaging the economic argument for going there in the first place. In this respect, Apple is a more apposite example than, say, Bugatti or Porsche.

“I love Bugatti,” Anand Mahindra says, “and it was the dream of a true visionary to rejuvenate the brand. We all agree on that. But the amount of money you’d need to invest to take on the Chiron… if you choose your weapon well and you do it with electric technology, you can achieve it with a lower level of investment. If you talk to the best companies in the world, it is possible to do it. Ambitious yes, impossible no.”

The PF0 will be manufactured at Pininfarina’s Cambiano facility – “it will never be made in Mumbai,” Mahindra insists, “that’s never going to happen. As I say, 88 years of heritage is what differentiates us from California-based start-ups with Chinese investment” – and the new company will be “customer-centric, design-focused, and sustainable.

“Is it a sure-shot? No. Is it something that has a better chance of working than at Nissan or Toyota? Yes, because we are not creating something out of thin air. Pininfarina is not created out of thin air, and all Italians know that.”

And what of life beyond the ultra-exclusive hypercar? Mahindra doesn’t want to be Tesla – “our strategy doesn’t include a Model 3” – and nor does he think the rise of EVs spells the end of days for internal combustion. “I don’t see the demise of ICE in my lifetime,” he says. “In fact, I believe electrification will lead to a new generation of more efficient petrol engines. The technologies will co-exist for some time yet.”

Rarely will we have watched this space more closely.

Source

Originally Posted by Holyghost

Tesla had announced the Roadster at a starting price of $200k. So the Mahindra is planning a bigger car with similar performance at more than 10 times the price of a Tesla? Or is there a typo in the price?

There is no typo in the price. As per the Top Gear article above, the production of this car is limited to 90 cars, hence the exorbitant price.

Cheers

[Joxster]

Automobili Pininfarina releases full-electric hypercar teaser

Automobili Pininfarina is stoking the fires of its first vehicle, the PF0. The brand, launched this year by India's Mahindra & Mahindra, revealed new teaser photos of its full-electric hypercar's exterior last week. The darkened photos show glimpses of the vehicle's low side profile, sharp front end, a rear that curves up and what appear to be two thin, long taillights.

"The cars that we'll do will have a strong, strong Italian flair," Luca Borgogno, design director at Automobili Pininfarina, told Automotive News. The car will have more than just exotic looks. It will also have significant performance chops, said Michael Perschke, CEO of Automobili Pininfarina. The company is targeting a top speed of 248 mph, 0 to 60 mph at close to two seconds, 186 mph in less than 12 seconds and a driving range of 310 miles. "Above all, it needs to be a stunning, beautiful car," said Perschke. He also said that the vehicle will be shown in private viewings at Pebble Beach during Monterey Car Week in August.

Mahindra bought a controlling stake in Pininfarina S.p.A., the famed Italian design and engineering service company, in 2015, setting the stage for the formation of a separate company in Automobili Pininfarina this past April. "We have two key points in our design philosophy — purity and beauty," said Borgogno. "Purity is actually something that has to do with purity of the design. Because the cars that we want to do need to be very clean. We don't want to overexaggerate with lines and details, but we want to go to the past, to the history that Pininfarina has given."

The hypercar is set to arrive in late 2020 with a price tag between $2 million and $2.5 million. Perschke said the brand is confident that the car will become a collector's item. "We'll definitely define a top ceiling of how many cars we want to sell," he said. "We're looking at a number which could go up to maybe a maximum of 150 cars, including maybe a derivative."

Source

Cheers

[Flyer]

First official image of Pininfarina PF0.