Pininfarina at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, the first official image of the concept car

Pininfarina 2-seater spider Concept Car - Teaser image

TURIN : January 29, 2010 – Pininfarina discloses the first official image of its new concept car, world debut on March 2nd at the Geneva Motor Show.


The Pininfarina new concept is meant to be part of the tradition of successful spiders born from the relationship with Alfa Romeo, among the most significant and long-lasting ones in the automobile history, and interprets the innovative vision of an antique theme strongly present in the Pininfarina roots, the 2-seater spider.

An iconic object that, binding with an ideal thread the past and the future of Pininfarina, starts the celebrations for its 80th anniversary, representing at the same time an homage to the Alfa Romeo 100th birthday.

[Source : PININFARINA]

Pininfarina design stars at the Frankfurt Motor show, with Ferrari and Maserati

Pininfarina Design - Ferrari 458 Italia

TURIN : September 7, 2009 – Pininfarina design comes into its own at the Frankfurt Motor Show, thanks to the novelties presented by two prestigious customers, Ferrari and Maserati. The Show hosts the world debut of the Ferrari 458 Italia, a new generation rear-engined berlinetta, and the Maserati GranCabrio, the first four-seater cabriolet in Maserati history.


The new Ferrari 458 Italia marks a generation leap for 8-cylinder mid-rear engined cars with a strong racing temperament from the Maranello Company. The new car is a synthesis of technological innovation, creativeness, style and passion, one that is also representative of Italy, a fact that Ferrari pays tribute to with its decision to add Italia to the car’s name after the traditional reference to its capacity and number of cylinders.

The Ferrari 458 Italia is a two-seater Berlinetta that is completely new in every way: the power pack, design, aerodynamics, handling, instrumentation and man-machine interface, to name just a few. The design, created by Pininfarina, hinges on a compact, streamlined shape, which expresses the concepts of essentiality, efficiency and lightness that inspired the project. Like all Ferraris, the styling is closely linked to aerodynamic efficiency, which also generates a vertical load of 140 kg at 200 km/h on this car. The front end has a single vent, with lateral air intakes, and the profile sections designed to direct the air towards the engine radiators and the new flat bottom. The 458 Italia also has small fins positioned in front of the radiators, which generate vertical load and deform aero-elastically as the speed increases to reduce the radiator intake section and thus drag.

“The 458 Italia marks a new milestone in the historical collaboration between Ferrari and Pininfarina,” commented Paolo Pininfarina, Chairman of the Group. “The stylistic definition of the model, coordinated by the Ferrari Styling Department team, examined every detail of even the smallest part, focusing on a number of key concepts: simplicity, essentiality, technology, total aerodynamics, efficiency and lightness. The result is a car that has extremely innovative styling but yet retains the main Ferrari characteristics, like the visible engine typical of sportier 8-cylinder models.”

“The design of an 8-cylinder berlinetta, a model that has always embodied all Ferrari’s intrinsic values with extraordinary sportiness and elegance, demanded an unusual approach, that took into consideration the sweeping changes taking place around the world,” added Lowie Vermeersch, Pininfarina Design Director. “The stylistic research thus evolved through a new ethical conscience on the part of the designer and new design drivers, such as lower consumption and reduced emissions. In architectural terms, this philosophy has translated into lower weights and a smaller front section, which brought benefits in terms of aerodynamics. Where styling is concerned, a great deal of work was done on the optical perception of a compact but streamlined mass obtained by “streamlining” the volumes and the tension applied to the surfaces.”

Pininfarina Design - Maserati GranCabrio

For lovers of Maserati convertibles, Frankfurt also marks the world debut of a new cabriolet designed by Pininfarina, the Maserati GranCabrio. This car completes the Maserati range, which now contains three families of models - saloon, coupe, cabriolet - all designed by Pininfarina: the Quattroporte, GranTurismo and GranCabrio.

The GranCabrio is a Maserati in the purest sense of the term: from the Pininfarina style to the spacious interior, the craftsmanship of each detail, and the enjoyable drive and performance. The GranCabrio upholds the Maserati convertible tradition, opening a new chapter: no four-seater open-air model has ever left the plants in Viale Ciro Menotti 322. Powered by a 4.7-litre V8 engine that delivers 440 bhp, the GranCabrio has the longest wheelbase of any cabriolet in its market segment. To underline the link with Maserati tradition, the roof is exclusively canvas.

Pininfarina Design - Volvo C70

The Frankfurt Motor Show hosts the presentation of the restyled version of the Volvo C70. The styling of the Swedish coupé-cabriolet has been modernised at the front and the rear, sustained by the characteristics that made the previous version a success: the hardtop system that folds into three parts simply by pressing a button in the car, transforming it into an open sports car or an elegant coupe, with four proper seats and technology that makes it one of the safest convertibles in the world. Even the new C70 will be built by Pininfarina Sverige, the joint venture between Pininfarina S.p.A. (60%) and the Volvo Car Corporation (40%), which was established in 2003 in Uddevalla, Sweden.

[Source : PININFARINA]

World Premiere : TATA Prima - updated

TATA Prima Concept

GENEVA : March 04, 2009 - The Tata Motors Limited stand hosts the world première of the Tata Pr1ma (Italian for “First”), a styling model designed and built by Pininfarina for the Indian company, first official project - hence its name - of the Tata-Pininfarina cooperation in the fields of research, design and engineering. As part of a strategy outlined early in 2008, Pininfarina has set itself the goal of establishing itself in India where it offers its design and engineering services to local carmakers.

TATA Prima Concept @ 2009 Geneva Motor Show

Based on the platform of the first Indian saloon, the Tata Indigo, the Tata Pr1ma designed by Pininfarina offers an indication of how the next generation of Tata saloons could be interpreted, with a distinctive, elegant design. Conceived to provide luxurious comfort, this 4-door model has a sober but very refined design, combined with sinuous lines that give the car the personality of a coupe. It is a solution that immediately adds value, compared to the essential design usually associated with the Tata brand.

The Tata Pr1ma addresses a higher segment, and the external and internal measurements are larger than those of the Indigo, thanks to a longer wheelbase (2700 mm). The design balances fluidity and tension, which is visible in the lines that run from the front to the rear of the car. The result is an elegant look, and proportions that are both classic and modern.

The model’s sleek silhouette conveys dynamism and a strong temperament. The long wheelbase creates a generous amount of room inside, underlined by the uninterrupted profile of the doors, a clean, strong blend of the best ideas of Pininfarina design. Without limiting the space inside, the tapered rear end and inclined passenger compartment convey the feeling of a coupe, underlined by the refined treatment of the pillar, an element that is typical of Pininfarina styling and sportiness.

The front view and the shape of the rear light clusters merge into the distinctive lines of the car’s design, underlining its presence and dimensions. The roof stretches towards the front, conveying a sense of power and force. Each detail has been studied with care, not to decorate, but to underline the basic theme of the design and to raise the profile of the Tata logo.

Images : TATA Prima Concept

[Source : PININFARINA]

Red dot award 2008, the Pininfarina Sintesi triumphs at Singapore

Pininfarina Sintesi Concept

The Sintesi concept car unveiled by Pininfarina at the last edition of the Geneva Motor Show won the “red dot award 2008” today in Singapore for “the excellent quality of its design and the outstanding innovation of its technological content”.


The four door, four seat sports GT Sintesi was chosen by the judges of the red dot award – from over 1900 concepts from 48 nations – for encapsulating the essence of the car of the future in its sleek and aerodynamic silhouette.
While not a study in beauty as an end in itself, the Sintesi pays more than just lip service to aesthetics, which are enhanced by uniting the interior and exterior in a design that shapes the mechanicals – a combination of fuel cells, drive train components and batteries – around the requisites for space and safety of the occupants, the true protagonists of future automotive scenarios, together with the car itself, envisioned as part of a vehicular network interconnected by a decentralised intelligence system devised to create a new harmony among cars themselves and between cars and the surrounding environment.

“The Sintesi is a genuine laboratory on wheels”, says Group president Paolo Pininfarina. “The red dot award acknowledges the ability of the Pininfarina design team to set new quality standards for itself, start again from a clean sheet and tackle the challenge of creating something with completely new heart, muscles and brain, something that is extraordinary and futuristic by today’s criteria but destined to become the norm in future”.

The red dot award is the second accolade garnered by Pininfarina design in Asia in the space of just a few days: at the Guangzhou Motor Show, the A 108 saloon, designed and developed by Pininfarina for the Chinese carmaker JAC, secured the “Best Car in Show” award.


More images : Pininfarina Sintesi Concept

[Source : Pininfarina]

Pininfarina B0: the solution for a cleaner world

Pininfarina B0 Concept

Bolloré and Pininfarina have entered into a partnership featuring all the expertise required to launch serial production of an electric car which, thanks to its technical characteristics and its attractive styling, is bound to make waves in motoring circles.


This car will not be a prototype. It will be a mass production model, with the first units coming off the production line at the end of 2009, after which production will be ramped up gradually based on the availability of the batteries. Built in Turin by Pininfarina-Bolloré, a joint venture formed by the two family-owned groups, the B0 electric car will be powered by Bolloré’s proprietary LMP technology, using a combination of batteries and supercapacitors manufactured in Bolloré’s plants in Quimper, France and Montreal, Canada. The B0 will be a fully-electric vehicle without any carbon dioxide production, having been designed from the ground up with that aim in mind. Its batteries will be housed in a compartment specially designed for that purpose and located under the car, between its axles, lowering its centre of gravity and providing it with outstanding road-holding properties.

With its superb body styled by Pininfarina, Italy’s renowned vehicle design shop, the B0 electric car will be an elegant four-seater, four-door hatchback with an automatic gearbox. Its LMP battery, which will be rechargeable in a matter of hours from a standard domestic main socket, will provide it with a range of 250 km (153 miles). The B0 will have a top speed that is electronically limited to 130 km/h (80 mph) and will feature potent acceleration, reaching 60 km/h from a standing start (0 to 37 mph) in 6.3 seconds. The B0 will also feature solar panels on its roof and hood, so as to help recharge its electrical power reserves.

LMP: revolutionary battery technology
At the heart of any electric car, lies the battery. Bolloré is a highly diversified group of companies with a combined yearly turnover of 10 billion US dollars and 35,000 employees. For the past 30 years, the group has been the world’s leading producer of components for capacitors. Thanks to its acquired know-how in extruded polymers and the storage of electrical energy, Bolloré has been working for 15 years through its subsidiary, Batscap, to develop a solid-state lithium polymer battery. This battery is able to store, weight-for-weight, and it can be recharged in just a few hours.

The battery does not require any maintenance and has a lifespan of around 200,000 km (125,000 miles). Another key benefit is its unmatched safety while in operation. Added to that, the B0 electric car does not emit any exhaust gases, nor any fine particles. The car’s LMP batteries thus help combat air pollution. The batteries of the B0 also contribute to reducing noise, another nuisance which affects people’s quality of life in urban environments.

Supercapacitors: boosting acceleration and recycling power
Supercapacitors are sophisticated energy storage components developed by the Bolloré Group. In an electric car, supercapacitors draw and store energy generated while the car is braking and feed it back into the system when the car moves off again. The result is greater acceleration, increased range and a longer lifespan for the car’s battery. The electric cars powered by BatScap’s LMP batteries and supercapacitors have a range of over 250 km. They are fast (with a top speed of 130 km/h), pleasant to drive, safe, and long-lasting.

Natural energy from solar panels
Because it is 100% electric powered, the B0 does not generate any pollution. But the process of generating the electricity which the car uses must also, as far as possible, not have produced any atmospheric pollution. That is why the creators of the B0 have designed it to incorporate every possible solution designed to optimise the car’s energy efficiency and use of clean energy sources. For instance, the B0 electric car is fitted with supercapacitors, which enable it to store and recycle the energy that is generated while braking. Similarly, the car’s roof and part of its hood are covered with highperformance solar panels which help power some of its equipment. It goes without saying that a responsible environmental approach must be coherent throughout. Which is why all the materials used to build the car’s body, battery and interior trim have been carefully selected for their low environmental impact. All are recyclable or reusable. The Bolloré Group is also in the process of developing straight-forward panels of photovoltaic cells which might be installed by individuals or in public places to fully or partly recharge the B0 electric car’s batteries using solar energy.

Images : Pininfarina B0





[Source : PININFARINA]