Automobili Pininfarina, the car-producing division of the famed Italian design house, announced a joint partnership with Bosch and Benteler on Tuesday to develop a new performance electric vehicle architecture.
The new plug-in vehicle platform will be used to underpin Pininfarina’s upcoming range of electric luxury vehicles. In addition to using the vehicle architecture in-house, Pininfarina, along with Bosch and Benteler, will market the platform to other automakers.
“In cooperation with Bosch Engineering and Benteler, 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,” Michael Perschke, CEO of Automobili Pininfarina, said in a statement. “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.”
Pininfarina’s ambitious electric vehicle plans will begin with the Battista hypercar, which is based on the same chassis as the Rimac C_Two. The Battista is scheduled to start production in late 2020.
Pininfarina will follow the Battista with a range of luxury plug-ins that it says will target the likes of Bentley and Rolls-Royce. Pininfarina reportedly considered teaming up with EV maker Rivian to develop a platform for those vehicles, but it’s now clear the Italian company is moving in a different direction.
Pininfarina didn’t give a timeframe for when we can expect the first vehicle riding in the jointly developed vehicle architecture, but it’s likely several years out.