Pininfarina May be Relaunched as an Electric Car Company

Pininfarina May be Relaunched as an Electric Car Company

Famed Italian styling house Pininfarina is being relaunched as an electric automaker with backing from Indian automotive giant Mahindra, according to a new report.

Autocar intel suggests that Pininfarina will soon be rebranded as an electric automaker, potentially under the ‘Pininfarina Automobili’ banner. With an initial investment of around $100 million USD from Mahindra, the company is looking to introduce five cars over a four-year span. The first to arrive will be an electric hypercar that will allegedly share a platform with the new Rimac C_Two, which will be followed by large, mid-size and compact crossovers. It’s believed the crossovers will benchmark offerings like the Lamborghini Urus, Porsche Cayenne and Porsche Macan.

SEE ALSO: Indian Automaker Taps Pininfarina for US-Bound Supercar

The operation is allegedly being referred to internally at Mahindra as ‘Project Montana’. The company hopes to invest a total of around $500 million in the project over five years, the majority of which will be spent on bringing the aforementioned products to market. Development of the hypercar is slated to begin sometime this year with a launch planned for sometime in 2020. That means that if all goes to plan, we should see the hypercar and the three SUVs on public roads by 2024.

pininfarina greengt h2 speed

At the recent Geneva Motor Show, Pininfarina showed off the production version of its new H2 Speed (above). The supercar was in-part developed by Franco-Swiss company GreenGT and features a hydrogen-electric powertrain. It will accelerate from 0-60 mph in as little as 3.4s and can reach a top speed of 184 mph. A short production run of around 12 units has been planned, each of which will sell for over $2 million. While not included in the Mahindra-backed, four-car production run, the H2 Speed is in line with the electric ethos Pininfarina is rumored to head in going forward.

Full details on Mahindra’s plans for Pininfarina are expected to be revealed at the upcoming Formula E round in Rome in mid-April. This would make sense, as Italy is home to Pininfarina and Mahindra compete in the electric Formula E series.

[Source: Autocar]