Pininfarina’s Sergio Nearing Production

For the past 80 years Pininfarina has represented the pinnacle of automotive design.  Since its inception in 1930, the Italian auto design firm has been employed by the likes of Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari to design the bodies of some of the world’s most celebrated vehicles.

Now Pininfarina’s is looking to change course by creating its own car, the Sergio.

Introducing the car, Paolo Pinifarina, Chairman of the Pininfarina Group, described the Sergio as a car that follows family tradition. “My father would be proud of this concept car because it expresses the aesthetic values that always inspired him: the purity of the lines, the harmony of form, and balance".  Paolo continued, “Furthermore, he would be happy with this latest concept on a Ferrari base, a brand to which we are related by a history that has helped define the most beautiful cars of all time.”

Built upon the bones of a Ferrari 458 Spider, the Sergio first debuted at the Geneva Motor Show to rave reviews. Based on this success, Pininfarina began to consider creating a small production run of the highly stylized sportscar.

According to Fabio Fililppini, Pininfarina’s chief designer, recent stops at the Villa d’Este and a Pininfarina celebration in London have confirmed that if the car is built, there will be customers to snap it up.

Pininfarina is looking to create between 3 and 6 Sergio’s each retailing for around $2M.

While that might seem like a steep price for a car that lacks a windshield, Pininfarina justifies the price by making some radical changes to the 458 Spider. The Sergio’s body will be composed of carbon fiber, replacing the standard aluminum. The Sergio designers replaced the downforce lost from the subtraction of the windshield with a set of air ducts located in the front wheel wells.

Even with the car’s radical styling and innovative, if not impractical, design (a helmet replaces the lost windshield), the price of the car isn’t justified by its looks alone. Buying a Sergio represents an opportunity to support a legacy of automotive engineering that has suffered greatly during the economic downturn.  For some, $2M is a small price to pay to continue that tradition of inspired innovation.

Watch the Sergio’s “Making-Of” Video:

Images & Video Courtesy of Pininfarina