Pininfarina’s comeback is extremely amazing

Silvio Angori, CEO of Pininfarina now has a smile on his face. And it was so good to see that, especially after we almost lost all hopes of seeing a traditional design house ever again. Automakers are now putting extra effort on the design than ever before, but it couldn’t stop Bertone from going bankrupt. Italdesign merged with Audi; Aston Martin's license fees are running Zagato and Touring.

Even Pininfarina didn't make a single penny from 2003 to 2014. That was when Indian carmaking giant Mahindra came to its rescue as a significant shareholder back in 2015. Now Pininfarina feels more pumped up than ever when Battista “Pinin" Farina and son Sergio Pininfarina had to sign of every Ferrari design, 64 to be exact.

Angori during a speech said that the Pininfarina used the hedgehog concept to get the company where it is today. At one point in time, the employee strength of the company reached below 500. They had to keep a low-key while trying to figure out their unique selling point.

Thankfully, Pininfarina is back in the game with more than 650 employees present across Europe, 85 in India, and more than 200 contractors across the globe. It has also released a high tech electric car called Automobili Pininfarina, after joining hands with Rimac and Mahindra EV.

The first model of Automobili Pininfarina, PFO hypercar claims 0-100 kmph in just two seconds, 300 kmph in 12 seconds and clocks a top speed of 402 kmph. It will be unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and Pininfarina will release only 150 models of the vehicle with production starting from 2020.

The best thing about Pininfarina is that the company can see through a project from scratch to the series of production. It has engineering excellence, the tooling and a wind tunnel that was built in the 1970’s but is still the benchmark of the industry.

The iconic “fanjet” from Pininfarina can simulate the ground effects up to 155 mph. Few other expertise of the company is their turbulent wakes, low drag and sufficient cooling in the EVs is the reason for their popularity.

Currently, almost 80% of the Pininfarina’s revenue is generated from the automotive projects and other engineering designs including metros, trains and stations. We can expect the company to grow tremendously within the coming years.