Recently, some media reported that Karma Motors participated in the 11th Goldrush Rally event in the United States. Once the two 2020 Karma Revero GTs participating in the competition were exposed, they attracted widespread attention from many supercar enthusiasts. As a synonym for “high-end” and “luxury”, Karma has always pursued perfect design. Many people may not know that in addition to the Revero GT, Karma has another new supercar that is also outstanding. It is a new car jointly created by Karma and Pininfarina-KarmaGT Designed by Pininfarina.
Dr. Lance Zhou, CEO of Karma Automotive, said: “Karma will accelerate the development of products and technologies through cooperation with partners. Karma’s business and product plans, to a certain extent, are achieved through partnerships with Pininfarina. It is promoted by partners with the same concept. Pininfarina’s design expertise can help Karma speed up product development, endow differentiation and customization with deeper connotations, and make each Karma car truly unique. Karma and Pininfarina are committed to Focus on creating beautiful designs. As a relatively young company, Karma Auto is good at improving its own strength through cooperation with partners, and perfecting a number of key technologies through cooperative development, such as: artificial intelligence, shared mobility platform, electrification, etc. Karma can also provide partners with an open research and development platform, so that each other can realize innovation and technology in production.” In addition, Karma can also help other partners to promote production through accumulated technical resources. This is also an important part of Karma’s transformation from a traditional car manufacturing company to a “new value” business model.
Strong cooperation to achieve mutual benefit and win-win
Born in California, USA, Karma Automobile, with its “high-end” and “luxury” aura, has nearly a thousand employees since 2014 and has established a complete industrial chain. At the same time, it has also established strategic partnerships with many companies with technological innovation and the courage to subvert traditional design and engineering. Because Karma knows very well that mutual benefit and win-win results are one of the important factors for success.
Pininfarina Group was founded in 1930. As the world’s top design company, it has made outstanding contributions to writing the history of the global automobile industry, and has also become a beautiful business card of Italian design in the eyes of the world. In the long-term development, Pininfarina has transformed from a craftsman-like enterprise into an international design and engineering service group with its advanced concepts and amazing creativity. Listed on the stock exchange and then Mahindra Galaxy since 2016, the Pininfarina Group continues to create industry benchmarks in automotive and industrial design by combining technology, engineering, physics and digital through aesthetics. Headquartered in Cambiano, Turin, with offices in Italy, Germany, China and the United States, the group employs nearly 700 people and its core business is design and engineering services. With a strong brand name and good reputation, Pininfarina expanded its business into specific areas of the value chain of industrial engineering services and other industries, such as the production of customized cars and the application of aerodynamics to reduce the drag coefficient of cars. In addition, the Pininfarina Group is one of the most prestigious design firms in the field of architecture and interior design today, having received dozens of awards over the years.
The compatibility of concepts has become the basis for the cooperation between the two companies, and the synergistic effect allows them to give full play to their respective advantages. Both Karma Automotive and Pininfarina pay great attention to the beauty and detail of the car design. In order to quickly adapt to market changes and achieve innovation and breakthroughs in the field of automotive engineering and design, they agreed on business development in the automotive market. Join hands with each other to create higher brand value and wider customer resources for both parties to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
It is reported that Karma has great respect for the Pininfarina company. Because there aren’t that many “really great” car designers out there, but Pininfarina is definitely one of them. It is not only a designer, but also an engineer, because the design cannot be completed without good engineering capabilities, so the products they produce are trustworthy. Working with Pininfarina, Karma knew the car would show a stunning design and be ready for production.
Pininfarina plans to expand its operations in Los Angeles to increase market share and brand awareness in North America. According to Silvio Pietro Angoli, CEO of Pininfarina SpA, Los Angeles is a center of innovation in automotive and industrial design, as well as a center of automotive business expansion with 90 years of experience. As the only automaker in Southern California that integrates design, production, manufacturing, R&D, and sales in California, Karma has a strong strategic development plan. These characteristics are ideal for the Pininfarina. Silvio Pietro Angoli, CEO of Pininfarina SpA, said: “Compared to the entire US auto market, Karma has become a well-known brand, although the number of vehicles developed is not the largest. It is a A brand that is unique and full of personality. It means a lot for us to associate ourselves with a brand that has made history.”
Perfect combination to create automobile art treasures
It is reported that in August 2018, Karma Motors contacted the world’s top Italian design company Pininfarina for the first time, and at the same time conducted in-depth communication on the idea of designing a new 2020 Karma Revero. Karma is keen to challenge himself and hopes to have a design spark in cooperation with Pininfarina. Therefore, Karma proposed whether Pininfarina could boldly design for Revero without changing its basic engineering parameters.
Pininfarina’s designers looked at the Revero’s proportions and quickly agreed to design the project. In the Cambiano studio in Pinifarina, every designer wanted the opportunity to participate in the design, which they believed would be an important design practice. In September 2018, Pininfarina shared the first design sketches with Karma, and the construction plan officially started in December. Karma Motors did not intervene too much in Pininfarina’s design, because they hoped that the latter would be free from restraint, bold and innovative, and create the purest “automotive art”.
For Karma, it’s exciting to give partners existing cars and let them come up with different design directions. In this way, Karma can understand completely different design styles and design viewpoints, which is a challenge and a process of running-in for both parties.
Ingenious design highlights luxury car style
Pininfarina sees the 2020 Karma Revero as “a gorgeous, elegant, polished luxury car that’s full of passion,” but Pininfarina wanted to create a more confident, traditionally styled “Italian sports car” model. So, in the end, the GT (“Gran Turismo”) was chosen. The GT has traditionally been a two-door, rear-wheel-drive, luxury-comfort electric sports car that’s suited for long-distance driving. When Pininfarina started building the GT, it removed the Revero prototype and used an all-aluminum frame to match the new two-door body.
The car maintains the Revero’s recognizable proportions, but has a very different look from the Revero. The most obvious change is the coupe, where Pininfarina built an all-new body side from the ground up. By changing the body, the appearance of the car shape is simplified, and the door handle is flush with the door body to maintain the overall consistency. The soothing shoulders and soft body lines convey the personality of the vehicle. A handsome, high-contrast black roof complements the Bone Gray paintwork, complemented by Piano Black finish and Smoked Gunmetal Gray trim.
The overall exterior design features a more aggressive front, a symmetrical slatted grille, and squinting LED headlights. The outer corners of the front fascia face upwards, with GT-esque cross-cut running boards. The rear body of the car highlights the power of strength with softness, pure and elegant. Two signature dart-shaped taillights give the rear of the car light volume and a modern character. On the whole, the attractive retracted waist of the car is full of strong sense of power.
Carlo Bonzanigo, Pininfarina SpA’s Vice President of Design, said: “Our design goal was to create a perfectly balanced and elegant body, a clear and understandable design theme, interesting details, and all-around fine-tuning of the entire product. The Karma GT is a true Pininfarina designs independently, because it finds a balance between individuality and harmony. We can easily design products that are individualized but not popular, and we can create products that are popular but lacking individuality, but these products will not Interesting onlookers. The difficulty is to create a product that subtly combines character and harmony that will delight us in an elegant and balanced way. I can proudly say that the car has a Impressive body and other features, as well as high recognition.”
Bright white and off-white leather blankets, an alluring all-white interior, and elegant burgundy lines accentuate the cabin’s dominant profile and contrast with the creamy leather. The seat adopts a new quilting method to highlight the feeling of elegance, sophistication and comfort. Small patches of soft, velvety nubuck leather and satin aluminum trim create a modern vibe while underlining a sophisticated sophistication. The carefully reworked interior with multi-tone stitching and small embossed Italian flags on the outside of the seat backs are playful details that represent the car’s meticulous craftsmanship.
Deepen exploration and create a new era of industry
It is understood that Pininfarina usually only reserves the title of “Gran Turismo” for its most special interior products, and this car is also the first time in the history of Pininfarina to name “GT” for non-interior products. It’s the perfect combination of the luxurious, pure-blooded Pininfarina and the ambitious Karma. It is reported that if the car can arouse the interest of enough enthusiasts, Karma cars will also consider limited production. If the plan comes to fruition, Pininfarina will hold production at its workshop outside Turin and invite customers to configure the GT themselves, making the car a true “made-to-measure package”.
While Karma and Pininfarina have very different places in their respective histories, since their longstanding relationship, the two companies have been brought together by like-minded ideas to usher in a new era of automotive. Karma and Pininfarina are ambitious and eager to develop, hoping to use their strengths to complement their weaknesses, and then develop a deeper and broader partnership. Karma and Pininfarina will continue to challenge the conventions of automotive design, hoping for more special models like the Karma GT designed by Pininfarina.
