Developed not only to express the talents of Pininfarina’s designers in front of a world audience, the unveiling of the Cambiano also marked two anniversaries for Pininfarina taking place this year: 30 years of its Styling Center, whose operations started in the Italian city of Cambiano in 1982, and 10 years of its Engineering Center, which was inaugurated in 2002.
However, according to latest comments from Pininfarina CEO Silvio Angori, there may have been one additional reason for building the Cambiano concept car.
Speaking with Automotive News Europe (subscription required), Angori admitted that his company was considering building a “high-performance, low-emission luxury model” like the Cambiano if there was enough interest from companies and private buyers.
He went on to explain that if 10 units were built, Pininfarina would have to charge around 1 million euros (approximately $1.3 million) for each of them. If 70-75 orders came in, then the going price would be around $522,000.
The original concept was conceived around a diesel-electric plug-in hybrid drivetrain, with the diesel component comprising an advanced turbine engine. According to Pininfarina, the concept would feature a theoretical peak output of 816 horsepower yet emit just 45 grams of CO2 emissions per kilometer or about half that of a typical hybrid.
Angori concedes that a production version would have to forgo the turbine engine in favor of a more conventional diesel engine, though the four in-wheel electric motors and lithium-ion battery pack are all viable.
