Pininfarina, Bolloré and Cecomp in agreement for production of Bluecar EV derivatives for Autolib car sharing service
Pininfarina recently executed a preliminary biding contract with Cecomp and the Bolloré Group pursuant to which Pininfarina will lease to Cecomp the business operations for production of 4,000 electric cars destined to Autolib, a car sharing service that will be operational in October 2011 in Paris and in 40 other municipalities in the Île-de-France district.
The electric cars that Cecomp will produce at Pininfarina’s Bairo Canavese plant—derived from the Pininfarina Bluecar (earlier post)—will be used for a public electric car rental service developed by the City of Paris. The call for tenders to supply 4,000 cars was won by the Bolloré Group, with which Pininfarina established the Véhicules Électriques Pininfarina-Bolloré joint venture for the production of electric cars in 2008.
This contract will be effective upon completion of the trade unions consultation procedures and will be in effect until 31 December 2013, for a total value of €14 million (US$19.5 million).
The business operations basically consist of:
- the Bairo Canavese plant;
- the machinery, equipment and accessories currently available at the plant;
- some contracts for the supply of utilities;
- the contractual relationships currently in effect between Pininfarina and 57 Pininfarina production employees.
The Bolloré Group and Véhicules Electriques Pininfarina-Bolloré undersigned the contract as guarantors of Cecomp’s obligations not covered by bank guarantees.
The signing of this agreement represents a key step forward in the implementation of future programs for the production of electric cars on a larger scale, which are the basis for the agreements between the Pininfarina and Bolloré Groups.