Do you know about the story of a simple factory worker who became a CEO to get paid for building hypercars? That person’s name is Per Svantesson. Who would have thought that a mere factory worker would later be surrounded with unbelievable figures such as “€6.2 million”, “350 km per hour top speed”, and “100 km an hour in only 2 seconds”? Svantesson is so used to these figures that he just smiles hearing and using them. This news is brought to you by CarSwitch where you can sell used cars in UAE.
The dramatic transformation
Per Svantesson had usual childhood dreams when he was young, all of which changed by his father who was employed under Swedish automaker Volvo for 47 years. Svantesson says, “My very first real job was when my father forced me to work for Volvo. He didn’t have a choice when it came to choosing a trade, so he said to me ‘You have to learn this trade from the beginning.'”
“You have to be 16 to work in a factory in Sweden so when I turned 16, he put me on the assembly line at Volvo. I was actually building cars and spent all my summers working at the factory in Gothenburg.”
As a reminder for how far this man has come today from a poor start, he remembers his first task on the assembly line as a cog responsible for putting the interior inside the luggage area of a Volvo 740.
Making electric desirable again
People usually link electric vehicles with being dry and boring. Therefore, the struggle of Automobili Pininfarina is not restricted to making a super costly vehicle but to change its perception overall. How does Svantesson make an electric car desirable?
“In our small Battista we have packaged in almost 2,000 horsepower. It’s not only that, but electric motors have torque that starts at the first RPM. So the acceleration you can experience is instantaneous and fantastic.”
Some credit is also given to the Tesla CEO Elon Musk for his electric car promoting efforts. “We are a bit thankful for Elon who thought to make Tesla a bit of an exciting vehicle. But we’re going to take that to a whole new dimension at Pininfarina.”
Apart from the technical benefits of an electric powertrain, he also boasts the heritage luxury. “Mr Battista Pininfarina and his philosophy for life was, first of all, it has to be beautiful. Whatever he designed, functionality was extremely important, but it first had to be beautiful.”
“We believe our Battista is a very beautiful car and it combines this unique expression we have of sustainability, premium luxury and breathtaking performance. This is something we would like to give people the chance to experience.”
Svantesson is determined to only release electric cars which is a huge plus for the sustainable green market. When he was asked if there will be any hybrid hypercar in the future, he had the simple answer: “No. Not as long as I am here.”
“We’re going to live by our philosophy to be a sustainable company, not only with the cars we produce but also by the way we do it and the way we work to make as little impact as possible in terms of our carbon footprint. There will be no combustion engines and fossil fuels. “
The struggles of craftsmanship
Styling and manufacturing the most athletic sports car in Italy comes with a few challenges – even for the low level vehicle like the €2.6 million Battista Anniversario. Svantesson says that no car making project is a straightforward procedure. The testing for the car was difficult since it includes lots of tech. The Battista is a unique vehicle revealed after monumental effort from excellent design partners.
It was handcrafted in Turin where the headquarters are also present. According to Svantesson, the best battery cells were taken from Korea and high quality electric motor technology was sourced from Great Britain.
Svantesson has been in the top board positions among big global industrial corporations, a venture capitalist and an entrepreneur. But all of this success is not due to luck only because he is a hard worker.
“I think the harder you work and the more you prepare yourself for the tough challenges, you need to be luckier. Luck comes to the people who seek luck.”
