Will the 2,000bhp Pininfarina PF0 be the most beautiful hypercar yet?

That mighty power output is what Nick Heidfeld reckons, and the former F1 driver and long-standing fastest man up the Goodwood hillclimb is not one to exaggerate. Newly appointed as Automobili Pininfarina’s development driver, he says that 2,000bhp is what they want the PFO to have and an electric drivetrain is the only only way to achieve it.

In the past PF0 (for Pinin Farina Zero) has been credited with a top speed of 250mph, 0-62mph acceleration in less than two seconds and a range of 300 miles. Combine that kind of performance with  what appear to be irresistibly pure and flowing Pininfarina lines and it’s clear the very first car to be designed, branded and sold as a Pininfarina is out to arrive with a bang when it goes on sale in 2020, following an unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show in March next year.

If Ferrari made a battery-powered hypercar it’s easy to imagine it could look a bit like this. The Pininfarina design philosophy that has shaped so many of the greatest Ferraris ever is in full flood here. Isn’t there a bit of 308GTB in the pointy snout? A bulging front wheelarch worthy of the Berlinetta Boxer? A delicate profile and tapering cabin that hints at the Dino? The plain surfaces and absence of ornamentation recall the 250 SWB.

For all that, as the pictures also suggest, this is a car as modern as tomorrow, with its glassy teardrop cabin and innovative light treatments. The way the bodywork folds around the rear of the car, like a carapace that’s split down the middle to create a two-piece wing edged in LEDs, is highly distinctive.

It’s all part of what has been dubbed ‘PURA’ design and it’s set to influence what the new company Automobili Pininfarina plans will be a range of Pininfarina-badged luxury electric cars and SUVs, with the hypercar PF0 merely the first. One hundred and fifty PF0s are planned, at a price to be confirmed but sure to be in seven figures.

All will be designed and built by Pininfarina SpA at its traditional base in Cambiano, Italy, in return for what the Munich-based car company is saying is a €20 million investment. Both the design and the new car company are part of the Indian Mahindra group.

Michael Perschke, Automobili Pininfarina chief executive, said: “It is a pleasure and a privilege to partner with the world’s greatest car design house, Pininfarina SpA. This agreement brings us together and marks the beginning of two exciting chapters in our very different histories.

“For Automobili Pininfarina, it will form the cornerstone of our ambition to become the world’s most admired luxury electric vehicle company. For Pininfarina SpA, it delivers Battista’s dream of seeing a range of beautiful and highly desirable Pininfarina-branded cars on the roads.”

After PF0 was previewed at Pebble Beach in the summer the prototype is now in Europe being shown to prospective customers ahead of its debut in Geneva in three months time.