Pininfarina Battista unveiled in production form at Pebble Beach
The covers have finally come off the first production-ready Pininfarina Battista hypercar at the 2021 Monterey Car Week
After almost three years of teasers and testing, Pininfarina has finally unveiled the first production-ready version of the Battista electric hypercar at the 2021 Monterey Car Week.
For Pininfarina, the event was a celebration that marked the end of the Battista’s lengthy development programme. Until now, all the cars we’ve seen have been prototypes.
The event also means that Pininfarina can now focus on fulfilling its order books. Production of the Battista will be limited to 150 examples, split evenly between Europe, the United States and the Middle East. Each car is priced from $2.2 million (around £1.6 million).
Pininfarina’s first production-spec Battista features exposed carbon fibre bodywork and gloss black alloy wheels, although the finer details of its exterior specification are still being kept a secret. Inside, there’s black sustainable leather upholstery and blue Alcantara sport seats.
However, Pininfarina says it can offer buyers far more on the customisation front, with a staggering 128 million combinations of exterior and interior options available through its personalisation programme. As such, the brand claims that no two cars will be alike.
Pebble Beach 2021 showgoers could also see the Battista Anniversario, which is a tribute to the life and work of the automotive design icon Battista “Pinin” Farina. He’s the grandfather of Pininfarina’s current chairman, Paulo, and gave his name to the company’s electric hypercar project.
Farina penned cars such as the 1955 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, the 1958 Austin A40, the 1966 Fiat 124 Spider and the utterly gorgeous Ferrari 250 GT SWB.
The special edition Battista Anniversario gets an intricate paint finish and a bespoke interior and Pininfarina’s Furiosa package, which adds a more aggressive front splitter and a larger rear wing for greater downforce. Production will be limited to just five examples globally.
Pininfarina Battista: powertrain and platform
The Pininfarina Battista is powered by four electric motors (one for each wheel), which produce a combined output of 1,873bhp and 2,300Nm of torque. The Italian brand says the system has enough grunt for a 0–62mph time of less than two seconds, a 0–186mph time of 12 seconds and a top speed of 217mph.
Performance figures like that make the Battista among the most powerful road cars ever produced, with almost 400bhp more than the Bugatti Chiron. The only car the Battista trails is the Lotus Evija, which has an extra 100bhp over Pininfarina’s effort.
The Battista’s electric motors are powered by a 120kWh liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery, which is mounted low in the car’s chassis and laid out in a T-shape configuration to aid the car’s weight distribution.
The powertrain was developed in tandem with Rimac, and Pininfarina says the system will deliver a maximum range of more than 310 miles. Pininfarina also offers up to a 10-year warranty on the battery pack.
The Battista is designed around a carbon fibre monocoque with a carbon fibre and aluminium rear subframe. The car also features a set of carbon-ceramic brakes with six-pot calipers, a torque vectoring system, adjustable dampers, an active rear wing and a range of passive aerodynamic vanes.
Pininfarina also used the Monterey Car Week as an excuse to showcase the Battista’s soundscape. As there’s no engine noise, the company’s engineers developed a unique sound for the car, which is played through speakers both inside and outside.
The sountrack uses “Verdi’s A” as a starting point. The concept was conceived by the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi in the 19th Century – and it states that sounds with a frequency of 432Hz are purer, clearer and easier on the ears.
So, the Battista’s soundscape starts at 54Hz (which, for maths fans, is a multiple of 432Hz) and steadily climbs upwards in increments of 54Hz as the car’s speed builds. Pininfarina says the choice of frequency “complements the Battista’s pure design.”
The story of the Battista
In 2015, Pininfarina was acquired by Indian firm Mahindra & Mahindra. Shortly after the acquisition, Pininfarina announced it would start producing its own vehicles as Automobili Pininfarina (alongside its existing consultancy business), borrowing the all-electric expertise gained by Mahindra’s participation in the inaugural 2014–15 Formula E season.
The Battista’s design was carried out under the direction of Automobili Pininfarina’s recently-appointed design director, Luca Borgogno, who moved across from the firm’s existing consultancy division.
Towards the end of 2018, Pininfarina named its new hypercar, dedicating it to the company’s founder, Battista Farina. When the announcement was made, the company’s chairman Paolo Pininfarina, grandson to Battista Farina, said: “This is genuinely a dream come true. My grandfather always had the vision that one day there would be a stand-alone range of Pininfarina-branded cars. For me, we simply had to call it Battista.”
Pininfarina has also entered a partnership with global EV charging network ChargePoint to provide Battista buyers with five years of unlimited complimentary public charging at more 115,000 locations across Europe and North America.
Buyers will also get a bespoke wallbox charger, designed by Pininfarina and made from recycled materials, which promises to supply up to 7.2kW of power – enough to fully recharge the hypercar’s 120kWh battery pack in around six hours.
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