79th Geneva International Motor Show (March 5 - 15, 2009)
Pininfarina will be present at the 79th Geneva International Motor Show with the following cars:
FERRARI CALIFORNIA
ALFA ROMEO SPIDER
FORD FOCUS COUPÉ-CABRIOLET
The stand of the joint-venture Véhicules Électriques Pininfarina-Bolloré will exhibit the
PININFARINA BLUECAR a novelty for Switzerland
The Tata Motors stand exhibits the following styling model, created for the Indian company by Pininfarina:
TATA PR1MA world première
The following cars are exhibited on the manufacturers’ stands: Ferrari California, Maserati Granturismo S, Maserati Quattroporte S, Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet, Peugeot 1007, and Brilliance BS4 SW; they feature bodywork designed by Pininfarina, or the design and engineering by Pininfarina, or are the fruit of collaboration between Pininfarina and the carmakers.FERRARI CALIFORNIA
Ferrari and Pininfarina present the Ferrari California on their own stands, the first coupe-cabrio built in Maranello and launched at the Paris Motor Show last October. It is an extremely innovative Ferrari, powerful and elegant, but also comfortable and versatile, a car to be driven every day. And with sporty ‘genes’, irrevocably tied to the brand, and its unusual flexibility that upholds the best GT tradition.
The muscular, but nonetheless streamlined, sleek styling of the California is another result of the lasting collaboration with Pininfarina, focusing attention on the proportions of the volumes to create a car that is balanced and harmonious, whether the roof is open or closed. The stylistic definition of the model, which was developed jointly with the Ferrari Style Department, examined every part of the car in detail, achieving a strong sense of quality and craftsmanship. “In January 2005,” said Paolo Pininfarina, Chairman of Pininfarina S.p.A., “Ferrari asked us to work on the styling for a completely new product, which would be an important chapter in the long-term collaboration between our two companies. The brief envisaged the development of a ‘berlinetta’ with a mid-front 8-cylinder engine and ‘2+’ configuration, i.e. with a rear bench to seat one or two occupants, combined with a feature never seen before on a Ferrari: a retractable hardtop of aluminium panels that transforms the car from coupe to convertible and back in 14 seconds. Because we understood the stylistic difficulties posed by such a difficult feature, from the first styling proposals we opted for a classic set-up, with sculpted volumes, highlighted by tense, muscular surfaces, with plenty of references to the Ferrari brand identity.”
The side view is characterised by the powerful bonnet, which structurally balances the short tail end and rear cabin. A nerve, like a stretched tendon emphasises this optical effect, rising up to the door handles to outline the muscular wing. A series of concave surfaces visually lightens the masses compressed between the driving position and the rear wing, where the hardtop is stored when the roof is open. With a similar interplay of contrasting concave and convex surfaces, an air vent has been created level with the front wing, a classic graphic and functional element on numerous Ferrari models of the past.
The front develops some of the ideas expressed by the side, harmoniously alternating concave and convex volumes. To balance the rear end, the wings and the vertical light clusters rest on the concave surfaces. The shape of the reflector, in which the LEDs are set like precious stones, blends style and practicality. The front view repeats a number of styling elements that have always been part of the Ferrari brand identity: the fender with the grille and slender vent at the centre of the bonnet are specific references to the 250 GT “California” of 1957. “However, the real leitmotif,” explained Lowie Vermeersch, Design Director at Pininfarina, “is sculpture as a functional element. Our goal was not to lose the sculpted aspect of the car at the rear end with the roof stowed away, but to maintain a good balance between full and empty volumes, to create a car that was functional and strong, but also smooth and romantic.” The sides meet up at the rear, creating a compact, muscular tail. Like those at the front, the round single-light LED light clusters are set directly into the edge of the boot, a technical device that gave us greater freedom when shaping the surfaces. Other original elements include the exhaust tail-pipes, which are paired and vertical, and the line of the boot, which descends to the bumpers to increase practicality.
“In 2005, my brother Andrea worked on the project for the styling of the Ferrari California, with great passion and involvement,” said Lorenza Pininfarina, Vice Chairman of Pininfarina S.p.A.. “Like the rest of us at Pininfarina, Andrea understood that being involved in the definition of a new Ferrari is as demanding and delicate a task as it is gratifying and exciting. In this case it was also an entirely new creation, in terms of the architecture, the engine and the cutting-edge technologies adopted, which made the California Ferrari’s first real on-road coupe-cabrio. The California marks another important chapter in the lasting collaboration between Pininfarina and Ferrari. Unfortunately Andrea was not able to see its debut in Paris, the success it enjoyed, or its presence today in Geneva. He would have been pleased, as we are. In our hearts, we have dedicated the car to his memory, and we will continue our work with Ferrari for him, with the highest level of commitment and competence, and the same passion.”
ALFA SPIDER
The Pininfarina stand at the Geneva Motor Show is exhibiting the Alfa Spider Model Year 2008. With its essential styling and typically Italian elegance, this refined two-seater with its sleek lines, developed jointly by Pininfarina and the Alfa Romeo Style Centre, continues the long tradition of sports cars created for the legendary Italian car company.
About three years after its launch, the car - which is built in the Pininfarina plant in San Giorgio Canavese (Torino) - proposes a few styling changes, like the introduction of a new non-metallic colour (ice white) and 18” perforated wheels with a dark sporty finish. The rear logo incorporates the “push button” system to release the boot immediately and safely. In the safety field, the Alfa Spider MY 08 can boast the most innovative electronic devices to control the car’s dynamic behaviour.
But the most important improvements on the MY 2008 regard the interior. On board, each element has a personality of its own: four powerful exhausts, the electrically-operated canvas hood that disappears out of sight, the powerful, penetrating headlamps incorporated into the line of the bonnet. The new anatomical seats with their sporty shape provide greater containment, more enjoyable driving and enhanced comfort, they are available in a soft black fabric with metallic effects, and two different types of leather: Frau leather or luxurious Poltrona Frau ‘pieno fiore’ fine grain leather.
Harmonious shapes and volumes combine with the excellence of the engineering and engines, and the strength of the Alfa Romeo brand, to produce an exciting car that deserves more recognition from the market, which is hamstrung by the collapse of consumer spending and the resulting difficulties in the automotive sector.
FORD FOCUS COUPÉ-CABRIOLET
Pininfarina and Ford present the new version of the Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet that has been on the market since Spring 2008. This new incarnation is even more attractive than before, with taut, geometric lines and features on a par with the styling, beginning with the cleverly folding metal roof and continuing with stability control and sophisticated power units.
The Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet is doubly seductive: a dynamic coupé that can be turned into an elegant cabriolet in just 29 seconds. From chromium-plated details to its Pininfarina logo on the side, the Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet displays a whole series of quality details. The elegant lines of the new front end clearly demonstrate Ford’s Kinetic Design language, and they match perfectly the refined lines of the side and rear profile. Thanks to the all Italian elegance, the vehicle expresses style, harmony and dynamism both when the hard-top is closed and when it is folded away into the luggage compartment. This rigid two-piece unit was designed to withstand any weather conditions, and was tested severely on the icy roads of Finland and in the dry heat of Spain.
The Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet is built in the Pininfarina plant at Bairo (Torino), where quality criteria of excellence rule. The car’s quality and the attention that has been paid to every detail are evident, right down to the final polish. The soft leather seats, crafted to guarantee impeccable quality, and the elegant interiors with the aluminium-finished integrated central console are just a few of the exclusive elements that make the Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet outstanding. In addition, the model is highly generous in terms of space: it will easily accommodate four adults and there is a surprising amount of head and shoulder room: luggage capacity is fully 534 litres with the hard-top up, or 248 litres with the roof folded away. Special care was also taken with the safety aspects, which include the reinforced bodyshell and instant triggering of the roll-bar in the event of a rollover accident.
Due to its convincing aesthetic qualities and the excellent quality-price ratio, the new Focus Coupé-Cabriolet has everything it takes to challenge its direct rivals in its market segment.
PININFARINA BLUECAR
Pininfarina and Bolloré set up a 50-50 joint venture at the beginning of 2008 with the purpose of designing, developing, manufacturing and distributing an electric car with revolutionary technical features and formal qualities. The Pininfarina BLUECAR, on show at the Geneva Motor Show on the Véhicules Électriques Pininfarina-Bolloré stand, is therefore not a mere concept car but a forerunner of the vehicle which will go into production in Italy at Pininfarina starting from 2010 with the first units. Production on an industrial scale will take place between 2011 and 2017, with forecast output by 2015 being about 60,000.
The Pininfarina-Bolloré electric car project, shown for the first time last October at the Paris Mondial de l’Automobile, has stirred up great interest from the sector as well as from the media and the public, proof that it is innovative and is moving in the right direction, well ahead of the times. With awareness of the need to act to protect the environment going global, and with the use of cars being more and more concentrated in towns and limited to daily mileages of less than 60 km, the car market is undergoing a cultural revolution that opens new and promising scenarios for hybrid or totally electric vehicles like the Pininfarina BLUECAR: recent studies have estimated that in the medium term 1.5-2 million electric vehicles will be introduced on the European market alone.
In this context the Pininfarina BLUECAR stands out from competitive proposals thanks to:
- its aesthetic excellence and the freshly original layout of a car born to be electric and not derived
from a production car;
- astonishing performance guaranteed by Bolloré technology.
An elegant compact MPV with automatic transmission, conceived as a four-seater five-door, the Pininfarina BLUECAR is supplied by LMP (Lythium Metal Polymere) batteries, combined with a device for energy storage (“supercapacity”), manufactured in the Bolloré plants at Quimper (Francia) and Montreal (Canada), which retrieves and stores energy during braking and makes it available when the vehicle re-starts. This means greater acceleration, an increased range and longer lifespan for the car’s battery.
The LMP battery can be recharged at a traditional mains plug and range is 250 km. At equivalent weight, this battery stores five times more energy than a traditional type and recharges in just a few hours. As it does not require any maintenance, it has a life-span of about 200,000 km and provides unparalleled safety. The battery is housed below the floorpan and between the two axles. Due to its low centre of gravity, roadholding is outstanding. Moreover, the electric car produces no gas or fine particle emissions and no noise: LMP batteries thus make a real contribution to the fight against atmospheric pollution.
The test drives carried out jointly by the Pininfarina and Bolloré teams have also confirmed the vehicle’s noteworthy driveability qualities. Pick-up is in line with that of internal combustion vehicles in the same segment (B/C). Safety-wise, the location of the battery beneath the floorpan responds to specific dynamic and passive safety criteria. The battery is protected from possible bumps.
Part of the car’s hood is covered with high-performance solar panels which help power some of its equipment. Consistently with an ecologically responsible overall approach, all the materials employed for construction, the battery and interior trim have been carefully selected for their low environmental impact and are recyclable or reutilisable. The Bolloré group is also looking into the design of photovoltaic cell panels to be installed in private or public places to allow partial or total recharging of the batteries through solar energy alone.
Innovative technology, sober, refined design and unmistakable brand identity place the Pininfarina BLUECAR out of reach of the merely trendy. The Pininfarina genetic code emerges in the dynamism of volumes and the balance of proportions.
The body of the car is shaped like an elastic shell resting forcefully on the four wheels, arching over its vertical axis and thrust forward by the shape of the sides. This idea of perfectly controlled physical strength is enhanced visually by the arched sills which contribute to the idea of the volumes thrusting forward. In the front view, the distinctive signs of Pininfarina design are seen in the iconic appearance of a vehicle that is strong and sure of itself without being aggressive. The design decisions are perfectly functional to the electric supply, hence the unobtrusive, short and sloping bonnet. The car’s dynamic personality is underlined by the horizontal lighting clusters. At the base of the windscreen, an access hatch for recharging the batteries and for simplified routine maintenance. The wrap-round rear volume highlights the car’s agility and its liking for spurts of speed.
The impression on climbing aboard is that you are in a vehicle that is much roomier than a normal city car: passenger comfort is guaranteed, as in a premium saloon, by four independent seats thanks to the absence of mechanical clutter due to the electric power unit. The interior trim stands out for the quality and precision of its detail and workmanship, a heritage of Pininfarina’s historic tradition. The upholstery, like all the furnishings, is in environmentally-friendly material. The central tunnel, which is both functional and decorative, and is moulded with refined lightness, has an original springboard form which strains forward towards the dashboard and hosts the window controls, the rearview mirror adjustment button and the original drive control which, of course, stands in for the traditional gear-lever.
At the centre of the dash, the clear, readable upper screen provides all essential information: speed, range, state of battery charge. But the virtual heart of the information system is the great touchscreen which brings together 90% of interaction possibilities between the vehicle and its user. Screen graphics are easy on the eye, intuitive and elegant. Just graze the screen to select the control function you require: climate control, audio system, GPS, call for assistance, phone, drive management mode (environment, sport or ice). Finally, a remote control incorporated in a portable phone allows you to monitor the state of the battery and trigger its pre-heating so that the vehicle is immediately ready to start, even after it has been parked a long time.
The Pininfarina BLUECAR on display at Geneva can also fit a tyre concept developed by Pininfarina in cooperation with Dunlop. Extremely light, these tyres of new design can significantly reduce energy consumption while roadholding remains excellent.
TATA PR1MA
The Tata Motors Limited stand hosts the world première of the Tata Pr1ma (Italian for “First”), a styling model designed and built by Pininfarina for the Indian company, first official project - hence its name - of the Tata-Pininfarina cooperation in the fields of research, design and engineering. As part of a strategy outlined early in 2008, Pininfarina has set itself the goal of establishing itself in India where it offers its design and engineering services to local carmakers.
Based on the platform of the first Indian saloon, the Tata Indigo, the Tata Pr1ma designed by Pininfarina offers an indication of how the next generation of Tata saloons could be interpreted, with a distinctive, elegant design. Conceived to provide luxurious comfort, this 4-door model has a sober but very refined design, combined with sinuous lines that give the car the personality of a coupe. It is a solution that immediately adds value, compared to the essential design usually associated with the Tata brand.
The Tata Pr1ma addresses a higher segment, and the external and internal measurements are larger than those of the Indigo, thanks to a longer wheelbase (2700 mm). The design balances fluidity and tension, which is visible in the lines that run from the front to the rear of the car. The result is an elegant look, and proportions that are both classic and modern.
The model’s sleek silhouette conveys dynamism and a strong temperament. The long wheelbase creates a generous amount of room inside, underlined by the uninterrupted profile of the doors, a clean, strong blend of the best ideas of Pininfarina design. Without limiting the space inside, the tapered rear end and inclined passenger compartment convey the feeling of a coupe, underlined by the refined treatment of the pillar, an element that is typical of Pininfarina styling and sportiness.
The front view and the shape of the rear light clusters merge into the distinctive lines of the car’s design, underlining its presence and dimensions. The roof stretches towards the front, conveying a sense of power and force. Each detail has been studied with care, not to decorate, but to underline the basic theme of the design and to raise the profile of the Tata logo.
