“We are defining a car that is not overdesigned; we want something that is super clean and looks impossibly simple. Whenever you look back at classic Pininfarina cars, these qualities stand out,” added Borgogno.
Pininfarina design icons spanning 60 years have been cited as inspiration for the PFO. Three cars are singled out: the streamlined Cisitalia 202 of 1947, the dramatic wedge-shaped Ferrari 512S Modulo concept of 1970, and the sleek shooting brake Sintesi concept of 2008.
Apart from having a lot to live up to on the design front, the battery-powered PFO has lofty performance targets: a top speed of 250mph, 0-62mph in less than two seconds and a range of 300 miles. The company is working with partners on the project including an electric car specialist yet to be confirmed but rumoured to be Rimac.
The first man to prove PFO’s performance credentials is likely to be their development driver, Nick Heidfeld. Among his many F1 and FormulaE achievements is that he still holds the record of 41.6 seconds for driving a car (a Formula 1 McLaren) up the Goodwood hill.
Here’s hoping Nick will be back at the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard soon to show exactly what one of the more interesting – and surely one of the most beautiful – electric hypercars of the new generation can actually do.