Pininfarina Ethos

The Pininfarina Ethos is the first of a series of concept cars with which Pininfarina set out in the early 1990s to show it could create whole vehicles, not only styling. Ethos 1 was shown at the 1992 Turin Motor Show. Its exterior was drawn by Stephane Schwarz, who took inspiration from the Italian barchetta tradition, and its interior by Davide Arcangeli was minimalist, with seats of neoprene fabric stretched over a metal frame. Built around a lightweight chassis, it weighed 700 kg and was powered by a prototype two-stroke orbital engine of 1.2 litres and 95 hp built by a partner in Australia, and a water-based green paint underlined its environmental message. A second concept, Ethos 2, followed at the 1993 Geneva Motor Show with an aerodynamic closed body, and the city car Ethos 3 was launched at the 1994 Turin show. The concepts now reside with Pininfarina.