Until very recently, designing and building a production car would take around five years. As digital technology has become streamlined and more powerful, some automakers have been able to decrease the time from conception to production significantly.
General Motors recently utilized 3D printing to update both the interior and exterior the 2014 Malibu in a few short months.
Now design house Pininfarina is using similar high-tech tools to potentially take a concept car, the Sergio, into a limited production.
According to Car&Driver, Pininfarina created the Sergio concept, seen above, for the Geneva Auto Show in four and a half months, which is a virtual blink of an eye on the automotive time scale.
Based upon the Ferrari 458 Italia, the Sergio features a highly stylized carbon-fiber body that has been attracting potential buyers. It’s had so many millionaires drooling over it in fact that Pininfarina is considering making five examples of the Sergio at $2-million per for a quick revenue spike.
We could be looking at the very beginning of a new kind of auto manufacturing, a boutique–style form of motoring. Small firms like Pininfarina, which are often susceptible to economic downturns, could keep afloat by building very limited-run supercars for the globe’s 1 percent – or .1 percent.
The Sergio, as you can see from the photos, doesn’t have a windshield, though. So hopefully its millionaire and billionaire owners have strong veneers, a really good dentist or some stylish helmets.
