In the automotive world, technology and design are a symbiotic relationship. An OEM looking to redefine the automotive industry cannot have one without the other and be successful. Take the original 2012 Tesla Model S, possibly the most influential car of the 2010s. Besides being an electric car chock full of tech features, the Model S presented an alluring design language unlike anything else. Whereas the Model S became an icon, other electric cars, like the Ford Focus Electric, fell into the desolate depths of dereliction. Especially for fellow startups in the EV space, following this formula has proven successful.
Automobili Estrema is doing precisely that. Automobili Estrema is an electric supercar startup founded and led by Italian businessman Gianfranco Pizzuto. Pizzuto has years of experience in the automotive industry and has focused on electric vehicles for the past 15 years. He worked a multitude of roles ranging from independently importing and upgrading Fiat 500 Electrics to serving as Jaguar Italia's EV ambassador. Pizzuto's fascination with cars was partly due to his home in Italy's Motor Valley, home to Lamborghini, Pagani, and Ferrari, among others.
A Project During Lockdowns
In 2020, things changed for Pizzuto. During the Italian COVID-19 lockdown, movement was heavily restricted. Confined to his abode, Pizzuto collaborated with his friends, ranging from engineers to public relations specialists, to work on a new project. The project was an attempt at creating an Italian Formula E team. However, after some plans in the preliminary stages fell apart, Pizzuto found a new, more refined approach focusing on the EV hypercar space instead.
Pizzuto says he first hinted at the project switch when he renamed his WhatsApp group chat name to "progetto hypercar," which translates to "hypercar project." "I transformed the WhatsApp group from 'Formula E' into something totally different, which I named in Italian 'Progetto Hypercar,'" Pizzuto told HotCars. After solidifying his friends' assurance in working on the project, the team got to work to bring their idea to fruition.
After getting together with his friends, they agreed on a name: Automobili Estrema. Since 'Estrema' is Italian for 'Extreme,' naturally, a striking design would be necessary for its product to live up to its name. After a series of concept designs, the team decided on one, soon named 'Fulminea.'
Fulminea, A Paradigm For Italian Design
Developing a bespoke vehicle, especially an electric one, is a complicated feat. Some EV startups like Atlis Motor Vehicles plan on owning all the means of production, and some, like Fisker, are solely contracting out production. However, for Gianfranco Pizzuto's low-volume hypercar, he believes finding a middle ground between partnering and in-house production is an excellent blend to maintain brand stability.
The most critical part of manufacturing the Fulminea is its battery. Luckily, Automobili Estrema's CTO, Mark Lander, has worked with Noshin Omar, a professor at the University of Brussels, who is a battery expert. Omar is the founder of Avesta Battery & Energy Engineering (ABEE), a Belgium-based battery lab specializing in solid state cells.
After meeting with him, the team decided that a hybrid battery, a solid state pack paired with supercapacitors, would be the best route. Supercapacitors can quickly charge and discharge, allowing for instances of high energy output, plus they also help reduce wear and tear on the main battery pack. Pizzuto foresees a two-to-three year time span before the powertrains will be entirely ready for the Fulminea's production.
Partnering For Success
Batteries, however, are just one facet, albeit an important one, of developing a hypercar. Due to his team's extensive contacts in the automotive industry and Automobili Estrema's location in Italy's Motor Valley, the firm was able to secure numerous partnerships to accelerate the production process. "Within a few hours {from our headquarters}, we have our suppliers, and we don't need to do {production} in-house; we simply have them doing it for us," Pizzuto said. "So we pay them without necessarily having 20 engineers, 30 designers, and 20 people in the workshop; we don't need to do all this."
"So there is one doing the chassis, there is one doing the powertrain, there is one doing the exterior, there is one doing the interior; these are all very specialized companies. These are specialized companies used by big names that you know that are out there like Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Pagani, Dallara, and so on and so forth," Pizzuto added. "They are working for all these companies, and they are also working for us; they enjoy doing something different."
"A lot of these companies are suppliers because they are friends," Pizzuto told HotCars. "We need the partners so that they are part of the project, and also, we do some co-marketing with them." While some of the partners are under an embargo, Automobili Estrema currently shows it's partnered with McLaren Applied for electric motors and inverters, OZ Racing for the alloy wheels, Pirelli for the tires, and others.
Allies In The Italian Motor Valley
"Pirelli is helping us a lot concerning the tires, for instance. We try to give back while they are giving us," Pizzuto said. "We don't pay to get the tires from Pirelli to do the prototyping, but in return we do some advertising as good as we can." The Italian Motor Valley's camaraderie is helping make the Fulminea possible. But once the first Fulminea rolls off the assembly line, it's up to consumers to dictate whether or not it'll succeed as a hypercar.
Fortunately for Pizzuto and his team, the number of Fulmineas sales to maintain brand stability is not incredibly high. "To sustain ourselves with five cars {sold per year}, we will do fine, … of course, we want to do more," Pizzuto said. "Nonetheless, we do first the coupé, and then we do the roadster; but combined is about 40 cars per year capacity we want to achieve."
"We've experienced a lot of interest for our project because we are among the first in the Motor Valley doing an electric project. Everybody wants to get involved and be part of this movement," says Jannik Voss Brogaard, Automobili Estrema's VP of Sales and Marketing. With a fully functional prototype due late this summer, and a team eager to bring Italy's first EV hypercar brand to the market, Automobili Estrema's confidence is proliferating.