Turin/New Delhi: Mahindra group-owned automotive design firm Pininfarina has inked a pact worth €65 million (around Rs460 crore) with Hong-Kong listed Hybrid Kinetic Group for developing an electric car.
As part of the agreement, the Turin-based company will support Hybrid Kinetic in the turnkey development of an electric car from the styling concept and development till virtual and physical validation for series production.
The collaboration agreement, worth about €65 million, will have a total duration of 46 months and Tech Mahindra is expected to play a significant role. “This agreement confirms the primacy of our company in the world of automotive design, engineering and production of small series at a time of great change in the automotive world. Synergies with a larger group such as Tech Mahindra are strengthening our business opportunities,” Pininfarina Group CEO Silvio Pietro Angori said in a statement.
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In fact, the company is now more competitive because it has access to a wider range of world-class skills at lower costs, he added. “To our respective existing customer pools we can offer fully comprehensive design and engineering services. Further, we see synergies with Tech Mahindra enabling us to compete with more traditional players in the domain of electric and hybrid platforms, autonomous driving and connected cars,” Angori said.
The combination of Italian design from Pininfarina and of best competitive engineering from Tech Mahindra will make a major difference in a wide range of industries, he added. In 2015, Mahindra group had announced to acquire Pininfarina for an overall outgo of over €50 million (nearly Rs370 crore) after months of negotiations. The acquisition was carried out through a special purpose vehicle (SPV). Tech Mahindra and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) own 60% and 40%, respectively in the automotive and industrial design firm.
