Geneva show: Pininfarina goes for Battista

AUTOMOBILI Pininfarina has announced that its first stand-alone Pininifarina-branded car, a 1416kW electric hypercar, will be named Battista in honour of the founder of the famous Italian design and coach-building company, Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina.

 

Capable of sprinting from standstill to 100km/h in less than 2.0 seconds and topping out at more than 400km/h, the hand-built two-seater known until now as PF0 will be unveiled to the public at the Geneva motor show in March ahead of production start-up in 2020.

 

Automobili Pininfarina – an offshoot of the Turin-based Pininfarina SpA design house owned by India’s Mahindra since December 2015 – claims the limited-edition Battista will be faster than a Formula One car and the fastest and most powerful car ever designed and produced in Italy.

 

Battista Farina founded coach-building company Carrozzeria Pininfarina in 1930 after breaking away from the family coach-building business. He died in 1966.

 

His grandson, Pininfarina chairman Paolo Pinifarina, was on hand for the naming announcement with Automobili Pininfarina CEO Michael Perschke and Mahindra chairman Anand Mahindra.

 

“This is genuinely a dream come true,” Mr Pinifarina said. “My grandfather always had the vision that one day there would be a stand-alone range of Pininfarina-branded cars.

 

“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.”

 

Just 150 Battistas will be built at Pininfarina’s coach-building factory in Italy, with 50 going to the United States, 50 to Europe and the final 50 to customers in the Middle East and Asia. It is unknown if any of the cars will be headed to Australia.

 

Many of the Battistas have already been snapped up by cashed-up customers who were shown a mock-up of the car at a special preview at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California in August.

 

Pricing is forecast to be between $US2 million ($2.78m) and $US2.5 million ($A3.47m).

 

Built of carbon-fibre, the Battista will have electric motors dishing up a combined 1416kW and 2300Nm – more than Bugatti’s 1103kW 8.0-litre Chiron. The Chiron is half a second slower to 100km/h (2.4 seconds), but has a higher top speed of 420km/h.

 

While the Chiron sucks 22.5 litres of petrol per 100km and can suck its 100-litre tank dry in seven minutes at full throttle, the Battista will be far more abstemious.

 

Its batteries – packed between the seats and behind the rear bulkhead – are said to be capable of delivering a driving range of more than 300 miles (482km). So far, no charging times have been announced.

 

The batteries and powertrain will be sourced from Croatia-based Rimac Automobili which is part-owned by Porsche.

 

The Battista is just the first Pininfarina car planned by the company which has hinted it wants to produce a range of vehicles.

 

Bankrolled by Mahindra, Pininfarina has gone on a recruiting spree to hire automotive specialists, including engineers, from Bugatti, McLaren, Pagani, Porsche and Volvo to make its dream come true.

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