Pininfarina Battista: 1,900hp hyper-EV is coming to London
Pininfarina’s Battista hypercar arrives in London later this month, as part of a world tour to drum up interest among potential buyers. The Italian design house is known for penning countless supercars over the years, but the pure electric Battista is its first own-brand effort.
In the UK, the car will be sold by Jardine Motors Group under the Automobili Pininfarina London banner. Neil Williamson, CEO for Jardine, said he “anticipates significant demand as clients seek to get up close and personal with a unique and sustainable motoring innovation from a prestigious luxury car maker.” Quite.
Pininfarina says its hyper-EV blasts to 60mph quicker than a current Formula 1 car. Its four electric motors – one for each wheel – develop a combined 1,900hp. The Battista can also travel more than 310 miles between recharges. Just 150 examples will be made, all hand-built, with a price tag of around £2 million.
The Battista shares its powertrain with the Rimac C_Two hypercar, although Pininfarina has previously said that acceleration and drive mode characteristics differ from what the Croatian start-up offers.
The Battista is named after Pininfarina’s founder, who set up his company more than 90 years ago. In 2019, Paolo Pininfarina, his grandson, said the car’s launch was “a dream come true… my grandfather always had the vision that one day there would be a standalone range of Pininfarina-branded cars”.
Indeed, this is the first of many Automobili Pininfarina cars, vows the firm – all of them ‘purely electric, zero-emissions, luxury cars solely branded Pininfarina’.
At the car’s launch in 2019, then-Automobili Pininfarina CEO Michael Perschke claimed “this is the most authentic and exciting automotive story imaginable” for those who like brands with heritage. “We aim for Battista to be a future classic and automotive icon, writing its own page in automotive history books,” he said.
Daniel Puddicombe writes for Motoring Research