Pininfarina Cambiano Concept arrives before Geneva

The Pininfarina Cambiano Concept - Pininfarina's hope for recovery?

The Pininfarina Cambiano Concept is a range-extender supercar from Italian Design House Pininfarina with four electric motors.

Italian coachmaker Pininfarina has not had an easy time of late (much like many traditional design houses), and was in real trouble earlier this month when it effectively ran out of money. A deal was struck with the banks to allow the loss-making Pininfarina to stretch its debt repayments through to 2018, which seems to have given them a lifeline.

And we wonder if Pininfarina has a lot of eggs in the basket called ‘Pininfarina Cambiano Concept‘ and a deal with a car maker to build a production model? Because it looks to us as though the Cambiano Concept might be a bit more than just a design exercise. A preview of a car maker-backed production model, perhaps? Enough to have got the banks on-side? It would be nice to think so.

The Cambiano Concept looks a lot like a Pininfarina tweaked Fisker Karma, with long bonnet and swooping lines. It has asymmetrical doors – one on one side, two on the other – and it’s big, at around 16’ long.

The Cambiano gets an 80hp electric motor at each corner and a range-extender engine to charge its batteries when the battery charge depletes.

Pininfarina are claiming a 0-60mph of 4.2 seconds, an electric-only range of 120 miles and a 500 mile range including the diesel tank. That must mean a thumping great battery pack to power 320hp of electric motors, and do it for 120 miles.

The design of the Cambiano Concept is meant to celebrate a number of Pininfarina ‘significants’. It’s the 10th anniversary of Pininfarina’s Engineering Centre, the 30th Anniversary of its styling centre and a homage to the town Pininfarina call home – Cambiano, nesting in the Piedmomt, a few miles from Turin.

The Cambiano is also said to have been inspired by Pininfarina’s 1957 Lancia Florida II, a firm favourite of Pininfarina’s founder – Battista “Pinin” Farina. Let’s hope there’s real substance to the Cambiano Concept and it goes on to put Pininfarina back on the road to recovery.