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Pininfarina teases its Tesla- and Bugatti-baiting EV supercar

Pininfarina isn't being bashful when it comes to getting into the car business. The Italian design house has revealed a sketch of the PF0 Concept, an electric supercar aimed directly at the world's fastest and most expensive vehicles. With upward of 1,000 horsepower, along with an expected price in the millions of dollars, this extreme EV is meant as a calling card for Pininfarina's upcoming range of electric cars and SUVs. So should the likes of Tesla, Porsche, Ferrari, Bugatti and Lamborghini be worried? Pininfarina might be new to building its own cars, but the company has many decades of experience designing and engineering some of the most desirable cars of all time — including many of the finest supercars to have worn a Ferrari badge on their nose. As we reported earlier this year, Pininfarina has teamed with Indian auto manufacturer, Mahindra, to develop a range of high-end EVs. With this roughly $500 million investment, not to mention some engineering help from Croatian supercar manufacturer, Rimac, Pininfarina aims to start high. The company will first introduce a hypercar, based on the PF0 Concept, within two years, then bring along a range of more affordable electric cars and SUVs. These will more directly take on the likes of Porsche Cayenne, Lamborghini Urus, and Tesla Model X. So yes, if you're in the business of building expensive cars, especially ones with a lot of batteries positioned inside them, Pininfarina's plans for the PF0 (that's a zero, not the letter "O," by the way) should make you sit up and take notice. "Automobili Pininfarina is a pioneering new business created to service the most discerning clients in the world," said Michael Perschke, CEO for Automobili Pininfarina. "Our product portfolio will launch with an innovative, zero-emissions hypercar that represents the progression we aim to make at the pinnacle of the luxury and sports car market." According to its press release, Pininfarina is currently presenting its "business and product plans to prospective retailer partners, clients and media in New York this week." After its tour of the Big Apple, look for Pininfarina to officially reveal the PF0 Concept during Monterey Car Week in August. Related Video: Design/Style Green Bugatti Lamborghini Porsche Tesla Electric Future Vehicles Luxury Performance Pebble Beach supercar mahindra hypercar Rimac

Bugatti moving ahead with Veyron successor

With production of the Veyron coming to an end, all eyes are fixed squarely on Bugatti and what it
will do next. Because by next year, it will have sold the last examples of the Grand Sport and Vitesse roadsters, and after that there will be no more. And since the Veyron line is the only one Bugatti makes - or has made, for that matter, since Volkswagen took it over - it will need something else in place or it will effectively go dormant. The only question is what that next project will be - or more likely, given the timeframe, already is.
One thing which Dr. Wolfgang Schreiber - who is now president of Bugatti and was its technical director during the Veyron's development - ruled out in speaking with Top Gear is that there won't be any further development of the existing Veyron. Schreiber put to rest the longstanding rumors that an even more extreme evolution of the Veyron than the record-breaking Super Sport would be made, and that the vehicle would die after the remaining 43 examples have been built. Nor will Bugatti proceed with development of a four-door model. It's an idea that Bugatti entertained prior to the release of the Veyron with the EB218 concept at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show and again after it with the Galibier concept in 2009, but it's ultimately been put to rest. According to Schreiber, a four-door Bugatti "would confuse our customers."

Bugatti shows how its Vision Gran Turismo became reality

Plenty of automakers have taken part in the Vision Gran Turismo program. But few have foretold the future quite as clearly or as enticingly as Bugatti's. And now it's showing us what went into the process of creating the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo. Unveiled last month at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Molsheim's creation isn't just a stand-alone design that exists only in cyber-space. Even if it isn't actually drivable, the Alsatian automaker is one of just a handful of participating automakers that actually built its design into a full-scale mockup, all curves, sinew, aggressive aero, and purposeful intent done up in French Racing Blue. The concept shows us what the successor to the legendary Veyron could look like. Picture it without all the racetrack-specific appendages - from the proliferate winglets to the various decals - and this could be what the hypercar tipped to be called Chiron will look like. And it looks a lot meaner than the rounded-off Veyron ever did. Related Video: