Automobili Pininfarina is promising its first electric hypercar will be the fastest and most powerful car Italy has ever produced.
Now known as Battista, named after the founder of the coachbuilding company that he started in 1930, the full-electric hypercar will be designed and hand-built in very limited numbers under the watch of Paulo Pininfarina, Battista’s grandson and current Pininfarina Chairman.
Aiming to be the world’s first fully-electric luxury hypercar maker, Pininfarina say the Battista will feature 'extreme levels of technology and functional design' beneath the hypercar's carbon fibre exterior, which will be unveiled in full at the Geneva Motor Show in March, 2019. But some staggering performance figures for the model have just been confirmed.
The Pininfarin Battista is set to pack 1,900bhp of power and 2,300Nm of torque, meaning the Battista 'has the potential to accelerate to 62 mph (100km/h) in less than two seconds, faster than a Formula 1 car, and break the 250mph (402km/h) top speed barrier'. Range is said to be around 480km.
“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," said Paolo Pininfarina.
"This hypercar will boast world-beating performance, technological innovation and of course elegant styling. For me, we simply had to call it Battista. His dream becomes reality today as we link our glorious past with the future of motoring.”
Pininfarina recently announced a $33m investment from owners Mahindra Group to underpin design, development and production of the Battista at company headquarters in Cambiano, Italy.
The company also has a multi-million-euro commercial partnership with Rimac Automobili, one of the world’s leading electric powertrain and battery suppliers.
No more than 150 Battistas will be available from late 2020 at an estimated price of between US$2m (NZ$2.91m) and US$2.5m (NZ$3.64), but perhaps most encouraging for Kiwi hypercar fans is the news that one example could land in New Zealand.
While some manufacturers have restricted hypercar ownership with strict purchasing conditions, Pininfarina have allocated 50 cars for the USA, 50 for Europe and 50 to the Middle East and Asia Pacific region.
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