2020 debut for 1,000bhp Pininfarina Pura Vision concept car with smaller SUV and GT model to come
All-electric Italian luxury brand Automobili Pininfarina has revealed the first of a new range of models set to follow its existing Battista hypercar.
The Pura Vision concept will be revealed at the annual Pebble Beach car show event in Calfornia in August 2020, but Auto Express was invited to an exclusive preview shortly before this year’s Los Angeles Motor Show.
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The production version of the concept will be the first of four new cars to arrive before 2025, following on from the £2million Battista that will begin to arrive with customers next year.
Pura Vision is the first model to use a new ‘skateboard’ electric car platform developed between Pininfarina, Bosch and Benteler, which Automobili Pininfarina CEO Michael Perschke confirmed would also be made available to third party customers.
The car will mirror many of the Battista’s statistics including a 120kWh battery, 1,000bhp of power, a sub three-second 0-62mph time and 310 to 342 miles of range. However, the price is set to be around a tenth of that of the Battista, with Perschke confirming “between $200,000 to $300,000” (£155,000 to £232,000).
Although official images of the concept won’t be seen until closer to the unveiling next summer, Auto Express can reveal that the new car takes its inspiration from a number of Pininfarina’s historic GT designs such as the Alfa Romeo Superflow with its glass canopy.
Perschke referred to the Pura Vision as “not an SUV, but an S-LUV: a Sustainable Luxury Utility Vehicle.” At 1,588mm high it sits 50mm lower than Lamborghini’s Urus – named by Perschke as a rival for the production model – while it’s over five meters long.
Pura Vision design details
Chief design officer Luca Borgogno gave Auto Express some further insight into the design. “We tested the sportiest of SUVs [the Lamborghini Urus] and the most beautiful shooting brake [Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo],” he told us. “But we thought; why don’t we put those things together, so it’s not a shooting brake or an SUV?”
Following Automobili Pininfarina’s ‘Design Above All Else’ philosophy, Borgogno has created a car that makes strong use of Italian GT heritage for the Pura Vision. “Every Italian recipe has super-simple ingredients and design is the same,” he told us.
“We have clarity, where one line can define the design, we use sculpture for sexiness and we have a family feeling where our cars are perceived as relatives of the overall design approach.
“There are no lines that are not needed – everything is designed to be sexy.”
The standout feature of the Pura Vision is the glass canopy, supported by an intricate, but almost invisible, aluminium structure underneath. The glass appears to cover the entire cabin from the windscreen – set back to allow for a GT-like long bonnet – across the roof, around the sides and onto the rear screen. It even incorporates a rear spoiler, too.
Borgogno promised a high-tech approach to the glass with electro chromic materials used to change the colour or shade at the touch of a button – similar to the technology used in Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.
Slim front lights sit atop a wide nose that’s a deeper version of that found on the Battista, while sculpting of the sides gives a Coke bottle profile from above, leading to prominent rear wheel arches that are wider than those on a Porsche 911 Turbo.
The rear end also features slim, wide LED lights while the boot door protrudes just below the rear screen, falling back inwards as it goes down towards the bumper.
Darker panels around the bottom of the car hint at where the skateboard platform houses its battery packs, with Borgogno telling us that the panels will be finished in carbon fibre on production models, although customers will also be able to personalise their car with a huge array of different finishes.
Rear-hinged doors are only for the show car and won’t make it to production, according to Borgogno, but the concept’s 24-inch wheels will be available to buyers.
Inside, the concept’s cabin is pretty close to the production car’s with a clean sweeping dash featuring an extra-wide digital instrument display and a large, low-set infotainment screen. And although the concept features four individual chairs, the production car will be available with a two-plus-one rear bench.
“We wanted to put really rich materials inside the car,” Borgogno told us. “Around 90% of what you touch is advanced wood, although it could be carbon fibre, too.”
“Two of our benchmark cars are the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborgnini Urus,” admitted Borgogno. “But our car will be both sporty and elegant at the same time.”
It will also have a fair degree of off-road ability from the four-wheel drive system that features one electric motor at the front and two at the back. Air suspension will also raise the car for off-road use.
2022 launch date with more models to come
The production version of the Pura Vision concept will be made in a new factory in Italy that will eventually be able to produce up to 20,000 vehicles per year, according to Perschke. He also confirmed that first deliveries will be in 2022 and that right-hand drive is definitely part of the plan (unlike Battista) to serve the UK as well as the Indian home market of Automobili Pininfarina’s owner Mahindra.
However, Automobili Pininfarina won’t be stopping with the production version of the Pura Vision. Auto Express understands that a slightly smaller, sportier SUV will follow shortly afterwards – “Think Range Rover Sport to the Range Rover,” an insider told us – while Perschke also hinted at what else might follow saying candidly, “Our designers have already shown me a GT.”
What do you think of Automobili Pininfarina’s plans to make an SUV? Let us know in the comments below…
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