Automotive

Pininfarina's vastly overpowered HK GT boasts some of the biggest gull-wing doors going around

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The Pininfarina HK GT with the doors up
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: doors so big you can shelter from the rain under them
C.C. Weiss/New Atlas
Pininfarina HK GT: looks decently spacious for a space ship
C.C. Weiss/New Atlas
Pininfarina HK GT: one of the most famous design houses in history
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: sleek aerodynamic shape
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: luxury rear seats with less than luxury foot space
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: may lift off at any minute
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: blue interior lighting means you're in cruise mode. When these lights turn red, hang the heck on.
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: beautiful leather work
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: interior and dash
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: unique rims
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: passenger entertainment console
Pininfarina
The Pininfarina HK GT with the doors up
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: waving hello
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: class, speed and genuine eco-credentials
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: radiating HK grille design
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: stitched headrests
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: low drag design
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: mirrorless mirrors
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: may take off at any time, probably to defend the rebel base
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: touch console controls
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: impressive 2x2 cabin size for the body shape
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: looks unrelentingly fast in profile
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: trick headlights
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Pininfarina HK GT: a family car for the very fast family
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Pininfarina HK GT: rear trunk ornament
Pininfarina
Pininfarina HK GT: steering wheel
Pininfarina
The Pininfarina HK GT looks absolutely ludicrous with the doors open
C.C. Weiss/New Atlas
Pininfarina HK GT: the slatted grille is a HK design signature
C.C. Weiss/New Atlas
Pininfarina HK GT: futuristic rims
C.C. Weiss/New Atlas
The Pininfarina HK GT from the rear
C.C. Weiss/New Atlas
Pininfarina HK GT: steering wheel and dash
C.C. Weiss/New Atlas
Pininfarina HK GT: nicely detailed back seats
C.C. Weiss/New Atlas
The Pininfarina HK GT in Geneva
C.C. Weiss/New Atlas
Pininfarina HK GT: got a bit of the old-school gangster car about it from this angle
C.C. Weiss/New Atlas
View gallery - 34 images

With 1,073 screaming electric horsepower (800 kW) out of a torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive powertrain, sharkish looks from the most renowned Italian design house of all, and a pair of colossal gull-wing doors that are long enough to let you into the front or back seats, Pininfarina's HK GT concept gets a big yes from us.

Italian design house Pininfarina has been responsible for the sexy shapes of more Ferraris, Maseratis, Alfa Romeos and Peugeots than you can poke a stick at – not to mention the transcendent Daewoo Nubira, the Eurowagon version of which graced the author's garage for a brief period until too many parts fell off for us to pretend it was still ok to drive.

Moving into the future, though, the company wants to get involved with eco-sustainable motoring to the greatest degree possible. And in that spirit, it used the Geneva Motor Show to debut an eye-popping plug-in hybrid tarmac ripper called the HK GT, which it's developed for China's Hybrid Kinetic group.

Pininfarina HK GT: got a bit of the old-school gangster car about it from this angle
C.C. Weiss/New Atlas

First to strike you will be the gigantic double gull-wing doors, which are long enough to enable access to both the front and rear seats, and make the car look like a menacing X-wing fighter when they're open. Funky doors are the key signature of so many supercars, but shy of 2016's Lincoln Navigator concept, we're hard pressed to remember another set of double-wide gull-wings on a four-seater.

Otherwise the car looks fantastic, with an oversized HK-style grille and a vaguely sharky silver form that shows Pininfarina's really learned and grown from its experience with the Nubira.

Pininfarina HK GT: sleek aerodynamic shape
Pininfarina

Performance specs are routinely ridiculous on electric sports cars, and the HK GT is no exception. Four separate IPM motors produce a total power output over 800 kW, or about 1073 vicious horsepower. Considering how much torquier electric powertrains are than their gasoline equivalents, that is going to feel absolutely absurd when you drop the hammer. The 0-100km/h (0-62 mph) sprint is dispatched in a brisk 2.7 seconds, and top speed is an exorbitant 350 km/h (217 mph).

The range is less impressive with the 38-kWh battery giving you not much more than 160 km (100 miles) to a full charge. But the GT is most definitely conceived as a Grand Tourer. Battery-only mode will give you fuel-free motoring on the vast majority of commuting and city driving days, but Hybrid Kinetic is all about the hybrids. So the car also comes with your choice of three range-extending motors (multi-fuel microturbine, hydrogen fuel cell, or efficient gasoline generator) that boost the range up over 1,000 km (620 mi), with the latter giving you the option to top up at any gas station for unlimited range touring. Until charging gets a lot quicker, range-extender hybrids like this truly seem like the best of both worlds for the times we're living in.

Pininfarina HK GT: interior and dash
Pininfarina

Interior-wise, there are touch screens for driver and passenger, some lovely trim details (see the photo gallery for close-ups) and a uniquely Mr. Potato Head-shaped steering wheel. Interior lighting is blue in the peaceful Cruise drive mode, but switches to red, warning your passengers to grab the Jesus straps and hang on when you switch it into Sport mode, "for moments of solitary and hedonistic sports driving," as Pininfarina puts it. We can imagine.

It's just a concept, but it's a concept clearly aimed at the Asian market, and we think it looks absolutely terrific. Jump into the gallery for more images.

Source: Pininfarima

View gallery - 34 images
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4 comments
Josh!
They saw all the problems Tesla had to go through to try and make gull-wing doors practical and just completely ignored them. ;-)
S Michael
Range of 100 miles LOL You have to be kidding me.... Tortoise and hare race.
"But the GT is most definitely conceived as a Grand Tourer." They misspelled Tourer should have been Tortoise...
Oshiriko
Did you read the whole paragragh? Range of 100 miles comes from battery-only mode, they also have a range extender to boost the range to 620 miles.
sk8dad
In a bizarre turn of events today, a family of gazillionaires met with an unexpected tragedy when several passengers were crushed to death after the struts that help to keep the gull-wing styled raised on their family car failed catastrophically. "We were about to go for a short drive from our mega-yacht to our mega-mansion. We never expected this to happen. I thought this kind of thing only happened to peasants", lamented the unnamed driver.