Pininfarina To Design Hercules' Alpha EV Pickup, Future Vehicles

“Designed by Pininfarina” remains a badge of pride in the auto industry, and the latest to benefit from it is EV startup Hercules.

Hercules Alpha

Dan Mihalascu

By: Dan Mihalascu

Jul 9, 2021 at 8:07am ET

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In a joint announcement, Pininfarina and Hercules revealed the signing of a strategic agreement for the design of the upcoming Alpha battery electric pickup truck and other products currently under development.

Under the terms of the agreement, Italian design firm Pininfarina will design the Hercules Alpha pickup for the Detroit automaker and other products to be announced at a future date. The companies said they expected to immediately begin collaboration.

The two partners refrained from disclosing the financial terms of the agreement, but the press release adds that Pininfarina will also provide design solutions to showcase products and vehicle ordering for the Hercules retail locations.

“Pininfarina is the world’s foremost designers of performance and luxury automotive products with over 90 years of experience designing vehicles for Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa Romeo. We wanted to engage the best to create a truly unique and differentiated product in our Alpha.”

James Breyer, Hercules EV Founder and CEO

Gallery: Hercules Alpha

Hercules Alpha

Giuseppe Bonollo, SVP, Sales & Marketing of Pininfarina, added that the Italian design powerhouse will “develop a new design language having in mind both our client’s brand identity and our shared commitment to environmental sustainability.”

The first result of the collaboration will be the Alpha electric pickup, expected to become available in late 2022. Hercules promises powertrain configurations that produce more than 1,000 horsepower, thanks to a torque-vectoring four-motor drive system. According to Hercules, the motors provide independent torque control “for amazing stability and ultimate high-performance.”

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The EV startup opened a $20 million Series A investment round earlier this year to support product development and add staff. The association with Pininfarina will certainly add credibility to Hercules Electric Vehicles, although the Alpha’s targeted specs and production start date seem overly ambitious for a company that didn’t even exist before 2018.

Before announcing the Pininfarina deal, Hercules released a video on July 1 offering the first look at the "prototype custom interior" of the Alpha. Embedded at the top of this article, it shows that Pininfarina will have a lot to work on—provided that the agreement with Hercules also covers the interior design. The CGIs of the Alpha released so far appear to be based on the Nissan Titan and the prototype interior gives off the same impression.