In my recent article on the Tesla Model S vs Porsche Taycan, I compared the “brutal power and speed” of those two cars, since the top trims of each produce 762 and 670 horsepower, respectively.
If those numbers get your blood pumping, the next car I’m featuring will likely give you a heart attack:
Pininfarina
Read: Tesla’s mega-fast Model S finally has a challenger: the Porsche Taycan
Automobili Pininfarina’s Battista is an hypercar in every sense of the word, a model the company wants to use to position itself as a pioneer in the luxury electric-vehicle (EV) space. The beating heart of the beast is a 120 kilowatt hour (kWh) battery that feeds four electric motors, one for each wheel, resulting in an earth-quaking 1,900 horsepower and 1,696 pound-feet of torque. That’s about four times as powerful as the 2019 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
Battista, which also happens to be the name of Pininfarina’s founder, Battista Farina, rockets to 60 miles per hour (mph) in less than 2 seconds, faster than a Formula 1 racing car, and reaches almost 300 miles on a single charge. Top speed is about 217 mph.
Battista was designed in only 18 months by an all-star team of design and engineering experts responsible for some of the most impressive and exciting performance cars. They include Design Director Luca Borgogno (Lamborghini Urus), Chief Technical Officer Christian Jung (Porsche Mission E) and Program Director (Sports Cars) Rene Wollmann (Mercedes-AMG Project One).
Now, those cars are impressive on their own, and it makes me proud to say that Battista also borrows about half of its technical components from another hypercar close to my heart (and home): Croatia’s Rimac C Two.
Battista’s looks match its performance, showcasing typical Italian luxury-car design, with its flowing carbon-fiber curves and butterfly doors. Its interior is equally impressive: a three-part control panel is fully digital, and its color scheme and minimalistic layout work well with the full-leather interior and sports steering wheel. Sitting in one of these beasts feels like being in a futuristic, luxurious Formula 1 car.
Here’s the interior:
Pininfarina
Now comes the hard part: With a hefty $2.5 million price tag, this car obviously isn’t for everyone. However, if you can afford it, you should know that only 150 will be manufactured, and just 50 will be available for purchase in the U.S. The rest will be split equally between Europe and the Middle East/Asia.
To meet demand, the company has contracted specialist retailer partners in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America, where customers can pre-order one. All will be hand-built at Pininfarina SpA in Italy next year.
Pininfarina has designed, and often built, some of the most beautiful cars in the world. They include the Ferrari 250 GT (1958-1960), Alfa Romeo Giulietta (1959-1962), Ferrari Testarossa (1984-1993) and the Ferrari 456 GT (1992-1996).
Car collectors, supercar owners, business leaders and automotive influencers have been invited to see Battista at a series of private briefings in New York April 16-18 before it departs for further showings in the U.S. and Canada. The car will be available for purchase in 2020.
Other than Rimac Automobili’s Rimac C Two (mentioned above), this car really has no competition. Outside the hypercar class, the closest competitor might be the Tesla TSLA, -0.33% Roadster, which CEO Elon Musk has said will be for sale in 2020. He claims it will sprint to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds and have a top speed of more than 250 mph. Range will approach 620 miles. The base price is a bargain $200,000. Still, Tesla’s production isn’t limited — you can order one on its web site right now. Battista, on the other hand, will be rare.
I can’t end this article without a few more photos of Battista:
Pininfarina
Pininfarina
Is there a car you’d like me to talk about next? Let me know in the comment section below.
Jurica Dujmovic writes about technology for MarketWatch.
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