The Hercules Alpha pickup truck based on Nissan Titan will be produced from next year and it will use its own electric powertrain tech
The famed Italian design house Pininfarina, owned by Mahindra, has been brought into action to design a zero-emission pickup truck from an American brand. The Detroit based Hercules Electric Vehicles has roped in Pininfarina to do the styling duties for its first vehicle, which has been christened the Alpha and it has already been given a sneak peek of courtesy of design sketches.
The Hercules Electric Vehicles’ Alpha will be followed by a host of other models from the brand. While the extent of the partnership between the companies has not been announced, what has been made official is that they will work closely together over a number of vehicles that will come out of the American brand and a statement from Hercules’ founder and chief executive officer, James Breyer said:
“Pininfarina is the world’s foremost designer 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,”
Hercules Electric Vehicles will commence the production of the Alpha from next year and its founder has a credible resume in the automotive field. Breyer worked for Chevrolet as the lead propulsion development engineer for the Spark and the lead powertrain development engineer for the Volt and his expertise could come in handy in shaping up his startup, which was founded in 2018.
The Hercules Alpha pickup truck will be underpinned by the same platform as the Nissan Titan and it will use its own technology to develop a maximum power output of up to 1,000 hp from an electric powertrain. With the increasing number of startups in the EV industry, it will be interesting to see how Hercules fare up against the competitors that promise big things.
Giuseppe Bonollo, senior vice president of sales & marketing at Pininfarina, spoke of the partnership and said that the new venture with a North American partner shows the brand’s ability to develop a new design language with the client’s brand identity in mind and “shared commitment to environmental sustainability.”