Pininfarina PURA Vision Concept Is Here to Birth a New Type of Vehicle: the e-LUV

That's a word coined by Automobili Pininfarina, a relatively new arrival on the carmaking scene (the company was established in 2018) dedicated to making luxury electric vehicles – and it already has one product in its portfolio, the Battista.

e-LUV stands for electric Luxury Utility Vehicle. If you're a bit confused as to what that's supposed to mean (I know I was), then a quick look at the vehicle we have here, a concept called PURA Vision, might clear things up a little.

What we're looking at is a vehicle body that has the lines of a beautiful car with Italian influences and German engineering, propped high enough to fool people into thinking it's an SUV, and with enough bling on the inside to appeal to anyone's passion for luxury.

We'll start our deep dive into the concept from the outside, of course, because that's what everyone sees first when looking at the thing. Devoid of any sharp edges, and boasting solely rounded, soft lines, cuts and creases, the PURA appears both weird and exciting at the same time.

It is, in the view of Pininfarina's Chief Design Officer Dave Amantea, a blend between a modern way to build a car and "the DNA of iconic vehicles from Pininfarina's past."

The front view is dominated by the large windscreen and daytime-running LED lighting elements so thin you'll miss them if you blink. Pininfarina calls these things ultra-slim nanofibers, and are meant to back headlights that are hidden from sight.

From the side the PURA looks like one continuous body element, and that's owed to the pillarless doors, a design which was supposedly inspired by the Lancia Florida design study of the 1950s. No mirrors break the clean lines of the SUV, as rear-facing cameras have been installed in the roofline to replace them.

The front and rear doors open in opposite directions, allowing for complete and unobstructed access inside. Massive-for-this-design 23-inch alloy wheels, painted in matt black to contrast the Bianco Sestriere Gloss body, complete the look of the concept.

When looked at from above, the PURA shocks with its impressive panoramic roof, which extends from the front and drops into the dramatic-looking yet very clean rear end. Here, the same slim approach to LED lights can be seen.

Inside, the PURA reveals a 2+2 seating configuration inspired by the world of sailing yachts. That can be seen in the way the front seats seem to float above the floor, like a sailing boat's foil, and in how the center console has been shaped to resemble the boom of a sail.

This rather old-school approach to interior design does not exclude the use of the most modern technologies and gadgets for the passengers' enjoyment. The PURA comes with a central touchscreen, digital instruments, and even a head-up display.

One very important detail about the PURA e-LUV is absent from the details released by Pininfarina: the powertrain. We do know it's electric, but given how this is, for now, only a concept, it's not clear what exactly that means.

Just to give you an idea of what these guys are capable of though, we'll remind you the most recent version of the Battista uses a quad-motor setup that delivers a total of 1,877 hp and 2,340 Nm of torque. It can accelerate to speeds of 60 mph in just 1.79 seconds, and can travel for as much as 296 miles (476 km) thanks to the liquid-cooled battery pack installed behind the seats.

I said for now because the carmaker says the PURA Vision is only a preview of its future line of electric vehicles. That means many of the design elements and ideas seen here will eventually make it into production vehicles.

The first time people will get the chance to experience the new concept in the real world will be in mid-August, during The Quail event at the Monterey Car Week 2023. Pininfarina will bring the concept there together with the Battista Edizione Nino Farina hyper GT, first shown last month, and "another new production vehicle of an equally exquisite, yet different proposition."

It's unclear at this point what this vehicle will be all about, but Paolo Dellacha, the company's CEO, said it will be the "first of our new portfolio," and although different than the PURA, clearly inspired by it. We'll probably get to see a glimpse of it in the coming days, so stay tuned.