Pininfarina to build an electric car with Bolloré
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or Get latest news by Email
Pininfarina will move production of the Alfa Romeo Brera, from its San Giorgio plant to make room for production of an electric car.
The car will be sold as a Pininfarina model in Europe, the United States and Japan starting in 2010.
“By the end of the year, production of the Alfa Romeo Spider and Brera will move from San Giorgio to Bairo,” said Pininfarina CEO Sergio Angori. Bairo currently builds the Mitsubishi Colt CZC and the Ford Focus coupe cabriolet.
Some pre-production units of the electric car will be built in the final quarter of 2009. Production for customers will begin in September 2010, with a plan to build 2,000 units that year. Full capacity of 15,000 units a year is planned for 2013-2014.
The yet-unnamed car will debut in concept-car form at the Paris motor show in October. The production version will debut in March 2009 at the Geneva motor show.
Pininfarina and Bollore will together invest about 150 million euros, or $232 million at current exchange rates, in the 50-50 joint venture, which will be responsible for marketing, distribution and sales of the electric car.
The four-seat Pininfarina electric car will provide a range of 155 miles in city driving and is designed to operate for more than 124,000 miles.
The car can be recharged by plugging it into a standard home electrical outlet. A full charge will take about five hours, but a five-minute charge will be enough for a 15-mile trip.
The Pininfarina electric car is expected to be priced at more than 15,000 euros, or $23,000 at current exchange rates. This price most likely will not include batteries, which are to be leased. The car will feature battery technology that Bollore has been developing over the past 15 years.
Bollore’s lithium metal polymer technology differs from traditional lithium-ion technology. Each battery cell is electronically protected by passive and active systems, which constantly monitor operating efficiency, voltage and temperature of each element. The cells are encased in a steel container to prevent damage.
Founded in 1930, the Pininfarina Group is based in Italy and has more than 3,000 employees a facilities throughout the world. Today, it is a leading supplier of automotive services, offering carmakers creative solutions based on proprietary knowhow at every step of design, product and process engineering and of niche vehicle manufacturing. Its Italian plants can produce up to 60,000 cars a year (and up to 20,000 cars a year in its Sweden plant).
Bolloré, a French Group founded in 1822, has revenues in excess of 6 billion euros and 32,000 employees worldwide. As a result of its diversification strategy, it has operations in industry and in the transportation and media sectors. The Bolloré Group has significant holdings in Havas, Aegis, Mediobanca and Vallourec. Building on the technologies it developed over 30 years as the world’s leading manufacturer of components for capacitors, it has now developed an innovative battery.
Source: Autoweek
