Pininfarina reveals crazy Enigma GT concept

Such a dramatic piece is of course a trope of Pininfarina’s most ambitious prototypes, from the Maserati Birdcage concept to the Ferrari 512S Berlinetta Speciale. In the case of the Enigma, it’s not even a bad idea in terms of ingress and egress, with the glass windscreen/roof pulling up a whole heap of bodywork, including what would be the doors, with it. 

The aircraft influences continue on the inside. A transparent OLED screen dominating theminimalist dashboard, behind the semi-squirkle steering wheel. That screen is supported by augmented reality on the windscreen.

So what powers it? Batteries and monster electric motors? No. This one has, of all things, an engine. No, Pininfarina hasn’t quite backtracked on its whole zero-emission mission. The Enigma GT features a hydrogen combustion twin-turbo V6 in the middle paired with an electric motor powered by a 10kW battery. The most comparable car in production today is probably the Corvette E-Ray. 

That powertrain gives it just about 440PS (324kW) at the rear wheels and 270PS (199kW) at the front wheels. In terms of performance and specs, Pininfarina claims 0-62mph in under four seconds for a machine that weighs in at 1,690kg. Active aero trickery means the car is always getting the cooling and producing the downforce it needs, too. Conversely it can be slippery for efficiency and top speed, with a drag coefficient of just 0.24.

So is this thing actually something that’s possible to go into production? Well, such hair-brained concepts are usually flights of fancy. Indeed, this one doesn’t actually exist yet, only being a virtual creation thus far and it certainly looks like it has more of a future in Cyberpunk 2077 than on our roads.

But Pininfarina insists that the Enigma GT is our first look at something it wants to move forward with and potentially craft into a proper road car. We think it’s Grand Tourers like this that Pininfarina should be busying itself with. After all, Ferrari owes its greats – from the 250 SWB to the F12 Berlinetta – to this titan of design.