Famed Italian design house and coachbuilder Pininfarina will show off its new electric car platform at the Frankfurt motor show this week.
Chassis to be offered to other car makers
The high-performance electric vehicle (EV) platform has been jointly developed between Pininfarina, Bosch, and mobility solutions provider Benteler. The new platform has been designed to be flexible and adaptable, rather like Volkswagen's MEB setup. It's expected to underpin a broad future range of Pininfarina-badged electric products.
A whole range of electric Pininfarina products
Crucially, the idea is that Pininfarina will also offer the electric chassis to other car makers, potentially giving some companies a shortcut to the electric revolution. Michael Perschke, CEO, Automobili Pininfarina, stated: "Today's announcement marks a pivotal and transformative point for Automobili Pininfarina as we and our partners leverage our leading position on design as well as our world-class engineering capabilities to significantly advance our mission to bring to market a portfolio of world-class luxury performance electric vehicles. The development of the Battista electric hypercar has provided us with confidence that with the right partners we can design and build beautiful, technically advanced and innovative luxury electric cars that perform as well as they look.
"It is our ambition to see the EV market grow and expand with added offerings across the luxury and performance segments, something that we are confident will be received with much enthusiasm by car enthusiasts and environmentally conscious consumers alike. In cooperation with Bosch Engineering and Bentleler I am confident in our ability to be able to bring to market a genuinely innovative performance electric vehicle platform that will accelerate the adoption of emission-free vehicles, particularly in the luxury sector. While other EV platforms are being developed, this collaboration marks the first initiative among three world-class partners to develop a platform specifically tailored to the luxury and performance electric vehicle plans of Automobili Pininfarina and potentially other carmakers looking to make progress in this sector."
Modular chassis concept
Pininfarina has already shown its gorgeous Battista electric concept supercar, but it wants to build more than that, and will expand its range out to saloons and SUVs, all tied together by three ideas: beautiful design, exceptional luxury and thrilling performance. All the cars will be overseen by Pininfarina's Design Director Luca Borgogno.
Johannes-Jörg Rüger, CEO, Bosch Engineering GmbH, commented: "A growing trend in electro-mobility is the increasing demand for system solutions. With our technology and systems integration expertise and capabilities, we are able to play a decisive role in bringing high-quality electric vehicles to the market - also in the high-performance area. Being recognised for our unwavering commitment to quality and reliability, the main area of collaboration is in sub-systems like braking, steering, vehicle controller and driver assistance. Additionally, we bring our knowledge in the fields of electric and electronic architectures as well as in safety and security concepts. As an engineering service provider, Bosch Engineering has significant experience and knowhow given our many years of proficiency in the integration of components at system level and customised application and calibration activities."
For Benteler, the collaboration confirms the functionality and performance of its electro-mobility solutions under real-world conditions. Ralf Göttel, CEO, Benteler, explained: "Automobili Pininfarina will benefit from our tailor-made electro-mobility solutions through reduced development time. We are glad to be working with a partner like Automobili Pininfarina and look forward to the positive results of our collaboration."
"Offering electro-mobility solutions is a natural step for Benteler. We produce, for example, electrified chassis solutions, battery storage systems and the Benteler Electric Drive System 2.0," added Marco Kollmeier, Vice President of Benteler's Electro-Mobility business unit. "As a result, we will help car manufacturers leverage the increasing opportunities that electro-mobility offers consumers, society and the manufacturers themselves."
Joining Michael Perschke and Luca Borgogno was Dr Christian Jung, Chief Technical Officer, Automobili Pininfarina, who added: "The beauty of electrification is that the combination of batteries, motors and chassis provides a relatively modular concept around which to develop a range of cars. The greatest challenge is turning this flexible concept and theory into reality and doing so at a pace that will support the rapid growth in EV demand. We are confident that our collaboration with Bosch Engineering and Benteler will enable us to be successful in overcoming these challenges as we further assess the potential of a platform to address the unique requirements of a range of true luxury performance electric cars."