Indian hypercar, Italian flair

ROME — Attempts to get into the rarefied hypercar space are not all that rare. But there is something original about a new Indian-Italian effort to crack into the world of Ferrari and Lamborghini.

What makes it special? It's a volume brand taking an unprecedented leap into hypercars with an electric vehicle that is powered by Formula E technology.

In 2020, Mahindra & Mahindra, the diversified Indian conglomerate with $19 billion consolidated revenue in 2107, plans to launch a full electric hypercar under the Automobili Pininfarina brand that promises stunning performance, legendary Italian design and craftsmanship as well as a high-pedigree price close to $2.5 million.

In Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra's view, Mahindra's investment in 2015 to take a controlling stake in Pininfarina, the famed Italian design and engineering service company, was the cornerstone to building the new brand. That deal was worth about €168 million (about $205 million at the current exchange rate).

"I believe that Pininfarina already stands for everything we are trying to do," Mahindra said.

"Pininfarina is a story that was unfinished. The world loves stories, and they love seeing the completion of them."

The Automobili Pininfarina PF0 is a two-seat coupe with race-car acceleration — 0 to 62 mph in under 2 seconds, less than 12 seconds to reach 186 mph, and a top speed over 250 mph — and driving range of more than 310 miles.

Those massive performance ambitions are topped by an even more daunting challenge: Make money out of this brave technical venture, which is certainly not a given for image-building hypercars.

Take Ferdinand Piech's hypercar dream, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 — a financial disaster of unprecedented proportions. The Veyron, launched in 2005, was the first production car to deliver over 1,000 hp and to break the 250-mph speed barrier, thanks to its 16-cylinder, 8-liter quad-turbocharged custom-designed and custom-built supercharged engine.

Max Warburton, an analyst at Bernstein Research in London, once estimated that Bugatti generated $5.6 million (under the current exchange rate) in losses per vehicle sold.

Luckily for the Volkswagen Group, which owns Bugatti, just 450 units of various Veyron variations were sold until the model exited production in 2014.

Anand Mahindra concedes there are challenges that go with establishing Automobili Pininfarina as a superluxury brand.

"Is it ambitious? Of course, it is," he told Automotive News Europe at the Automobili Pininfarina brand unveiling here April 13.

"Is it impossible? No. I think it's very practical, in a German sense, because if we came to you and said Mahindra is creating a new luxury brand, and it's called Maharaja, I'd be dead before this damn thing became a luxury car."

He says he is not put off by the unfinished work Toyota and Nissan still face 29 years after they began efforts to establish Lexus and Infiniti as globally recognized premium brands.

"Is [Automobili Pininfarina] a sure shot? No. But is it something that we have a better chance than, frankly, Toyota or Nissan?" he said. "Yes, it's a better chance than creating something out of thin air. Pininfarina is not created out of thin air, and all Italians know that."

Pawan Goenka, Mahindra & Mahindra managing director and chairman of Mahindra Racing, which competes in the all-electric Formula E, said his racing department will provide the complete powertrain for the PF0.

Goenka said it would have been much more challenging to create a rival to the Bugatti Chiron (the replacement to the Veyron) with a model powered by an internal combustion engine.

"Attacking the Chiron with a combustion engine would have been much more expensive, [but] if you choose your weapon well, and you do it with electric technology, first, you can get there with a lower investment level," he said.

"Secondly, technically, it's much more [consequential] because sub two seconds [acceleration] is not a challenge only for EVs, it's an even bigger challenge for a combustion engine."

Michael Perschke, the Munich-based CEO of Automobili Pininfarina, sees an additional advantage to electric powertrains: The best technology is not necessarily at large automakers.

"The best of [EV] technologies are the small startup companies all over the world who have gone out and done things that large OEMs have failed to do," said Perschke, who has 25 years of experience with premium German brands. "Being able to tap into that kind of company gives us an edge."

With technology from startups, he said: "It is possible to [make the hypercar] at a price which still would probably allow us to make still some money, if we are sensible."

Perschke says his goal is to make a beautiful car, to endow it with high performance and also to make money on it.

"We don't want to have a Tesla story," he said.

The PF0 is a limited edition — probably below 90 units — model that Mahindra will use to introduce Automobili Pininfarina as an extreme luxury, technology and design brand.

A range of luxury electric SUVs will follow beginning in the next decade.

Information on the SUV range is scarce — Mahindra executives privately admit production will be in low five digits and the price won't fall below $185,000.

But their market positioning is already clear.

"We are competing with brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bentley," Goenka said.

"We don't compete with Mercedes or BMW."