Pininfarina — an Italian design and engineering company — may be best known for its design work with Ferrari, but Pininfarina has been working with several Chinese companies as of late. In fact, about 30 percent of the company’s business comes from Chinese firms. No where will this fact be more apparent than at this month’s Beijing Motor Show.
Three Pininfarina-penned cars will make their debut at the Beijing Motor show — the Anhui Jianghuai A107 and A108 (pictured) and the Brilliance BS4 station wagon — all three designed and engineered by the Italian company.
But there is a reason behind the Italian design — all three cars will eventually be sold in Europe.
According to Automotive News, Chinese automakers have been enlisting the services of Pininfarina for quite some time now. Pininfarina inked its first contract with a Chinese automaker — Hafei Motor — back in 1996, with the first production Pininfarina-designed Chinese car hitting the streets in 1999.
Since that first contract in 1996, Chinese automakers have grown to become 30 percent of Pininfarina’s current business.
04/17, 11:36 AM
posted by:
moto-racer13
Looks alot better than the ugly Focus. Probably alot more reliable too.
04/17, 11:47 AM
posted by:
LaCaLover
Dull Dull Dull. It just goes to prove that without a heritage, even Pininfarina can’t design a meaningful car for you that will resonate with the buying public.
04/17, 12:30 PM
posted by:
F3INT))AP3X
Ya seriously look at thing, it doesn’t have any glaring ugly spots but its not unique or exciting in any way. I think if I didn’t know about this and someone were to tell me that this car was designed by Pininfarina I would tell them to blow it out their ass because honestly I would not believe them one bit.
04/17, 12:37 PM
posted by:
loudpedal
On the other hand, I’ll bet it looks a hell of a lot better than the Chinese could have come up with on their own. I’m guessing that the Chinese told Pininfarina to design something pretty middle of the road to attract the widest audience. Having said that, I”m not in their target demographics. I wouldn’t buy one no matter how it looked.
04/17, 12:38 PM
posted by:
mayer_ray_nagin
The People’s Pininfarina!
Looks like a Jetta humped a Neon.
04/17, 12:45 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Not too surprising, mayer_ray: Chrysler’s used to getting f*cked over by Germans.
04/17, 1:28 PM
posted by:
Need4SSpeed
Hmm, even with the Italian design, it still looks Chinese to me.
04/17, 2:32 PM
posted by:
eliteski2
yea, i definitely would not have believed that pininfarina designed this. Middle of the road design is a great description of this car, but of course, that’s much of the asian car philosophy. Build boring, slow, uneventful cars that a lot of mindless consumers will buy. Ex: Kia, Hyundai, Daewoo, even most Hondas and Toyotas
04/17, 10:01 PM
posted by:
autonut
johnny, I hate to tell you, but Chrysler management made its own bed. Actually they made their own bonus and screwed company and investors. But it was Chrysler orchestrating it’s own jail rape.
This car looks great. It is commuter car and I wish GM/Chrysler had senses to pay few coins to Pininfarina to pen their small world car.
04/17, 10:16 PM
posted by:
lucklaster
Bizarre how asian and common the italians got this.
Guess they researched their market. But, still shocking.
04/17, 10:17 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
I can’t believe you’re implying the sleek, svelte Caliber is not the equivalent of small car automotive Nirvana.