Topic: The future of Pininfarina

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READY The B0, an electric car that Pininfarina plans to sell.


 Design

Car to Carry a Family Legacy


By JERRY GARRETT
Published: October 10, 2008
Paris

 

WHEN Andrea Pininfarina died in a crash in Italy this summer, many in the auto industry wondered what would become of his design firm, an institution that has long served as Ferrari’s de facto styling studio and is an important consultant to other automakers.

Few outsiders knew how urgently Mr. Pininfarina, 51, who was chairman and chief executive of the business that carried his family name, had been preparing the company for the future.

Tucked in the studio was a prototype electric car called the B0 (pronounced B-zero), which was nearing completion at the time of Mr. Pininfarina’s death. Indeed, he had been photographed standing behind the vehicle, which was covered with a tarp.

When it made its public debut this month at the Paris Motor Show, the B0 was just one of several zero-emissions vehicles on display, the creations of both small start-ups and large automakers. But Pininfarina’s entry stood apart in at least one vital aspect: the company says the B0 is ready for production.

Though Pininfarina is better known for its role in shaping exotic sports cars, the B0 project emphasizes environmental friendliness. Mr. Pininfarina — the grandson of Battista Farina, who founded the firm in 1930 — was acutely aware of the need to design vehicles that met the changing needs of society.

On a personal retreat he had taken three years before his death, Mr. Pininfarina outlined his philosophy in what he called his “Letter to God,” noting that designing and building cars was more than a business choice. “It is also and above all a great social responsibility,” he wrote.

After the death of Mr. Pininfarina, who had been chairman since 1994, co-workers regrouped and vowed to finish the car, dedicating their effort to his memory.

A joint venture with Bolloré, a French conglomerate, the B0 is a result of a collaboration initiated by Vincent Bolloré, the billionaire head of his family’s interests. The Bolloré Group had already been involved in electric-car development, including the BlueCar demonstration project done with the Électricité de France utility.

Between the BlueCar of 2004 and the B0 shown here, the battery technology has markedly improved. “It is ready for mass production,” Didier Marginedes, the general manager of Batscap, Bolloré’s battery division, said in an interview at the Paris show. “Production will begin in late 2009.”

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The B0’s performance specifications are impressive and more than a little ambitious: a range of 153 miles on a charge and a top speed electronically limited, for now, to 80 m.p.h.

Recharging can be completed in “a few hours,” Pininfarina says, and the battery also replenishes through regenerative braking and solar panels on the roof and hood. The solid-state lithium metal polymer battery, assisted by supercapacitors under acceleration, has an expected lifespan of 125,000 miles.

Wouldn’t all this mean the B0 is capable of running circles around other yet-to-arrive electric vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt with its projected 40-mile all-electric range?

“Oh, for sure!” Mr. Marginedes said emphatically. His enthusiasm, he added, was based on the B0’s proprietary battery chemistry, which Bolloré says can store far more energy than the lithium batteries used by cars like the Volt, and is maintenance-free.

Therein lies part of the rub, however, with the B0 battery pack: It needs to be recycled, not dumped in a landfill, at the end of its service life, Mr. Marginedes said, “so we don’t know whether we should offer the car for sale. Perhaps it would be better to lease so the battery pack can be exchanged after the lease.”

Another issue: When it is ready for sale or lease, who will make the transaction? Pininfarina has no dealer network. “We are in negotiations on that subject, too,” Mr. Marginedes said.

And there is the matter of where the B0 would be sold.

“Probably in Europe mostly, for now,” Mr. Marginedes said. “It will be very costly and time-consuming and difficult to also pass the testing necessary to sell it in the U.S. We have already completed, at great expense, most of the requirements of the European Union.”

No doubt Pininfarina has the expertise and experience, along with its reputation in auto design, to build a road car. If questions around certification, distribution and pricing can be resolved, there is the problem of where and how to manufacture it when large-volume production begins.

“We will plan to start slowly, only building a few cars at a time,” Mr. Marginedes said. “By 2010 or 2011, we will be ready to build thousands, not dozens.”

When it appears, the B0 will be the first car to wear the Pininfarina name not merely as the designer, but as its own marque.

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When it appears, the B0 will be the first car to wear the Pininfarina name not merely as the designer, but as its own marque.

I own a Pininfarina-designed car, and in my opinion (of course, I'm biased) it's a beauty. So this is very interesting news!