Pininfarina sets yearly target of 60,000 Bluecar EVs by 2016

The infamous Italian design house Pininfarina is focusing a considerable amount of effort on electric vehicles (EVs). In fact, once a few existing design contracts come to an end soon, the company will convert all manufacturing operations to focus solely on an electric future.

Betting everything on a single technology is a risky gamble, but Pininfarina is confident that success will not be far off. With the help of joint partner Bollore Group, the company hopes to produce an almost unthinkable number of electric vehicles soon. The partners have set a target of 60,000 Bluecar EVs per year by 2016. This seems a little, shall we say, optimistic.

Production of the Bluecar kicks off next year, and the company is reporting 8,000 pre-orders. Of these, only 2,000 will be filled. The company did not disclose why all pre-orders would not be filled, but 2,000 in 2011 is more than the 1,000 we had heard would be made in 2010. 2,000 vehicles in the first year is a start, but a far cry from 60,000. Several automakers have claimed that hundreds of thousands of EVs are coming, but until we see it happen...

[Source: Ward's Auto]