Pininfarina’s Battista has ended its long journey toward production, with the first customer example recently rolling out the doors of the atelier at Pininfarina’s headquarters in Cambiano, Italy. Deliveries around the globe will follow later this summer, Pininfarina has confirmed.
The electric hypercar was first shown as a prototype at the 2019 Geneva International Motor Show, and since has undergone an intensive development program that included track time with former Formula 1 and Formula E driver Nick Heidfeld.
Pininfarina will build 150 examples of the Battista all up, five of which will be special Battista Anniversario models with a unique specification revealed in 2020 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of Pininfarina by design icon Battista “Pinin” Farina.
Each Battista features a powertrain shared with the Rimac Nevera, which itself started production this week. The powertrain comprises four electric motors and a 120-kilowatt-hour, T-shaped battery. Peak output is claimed to be more than 1,874 hp and 1,726 lb-ft of torque, or enough for 0-60 mph acceleration in less than 2.0 seconds and a quarter-mile time of less than 9.0 seconds. With a motor for each wheel, pinpoint torque vectoring is also possible.
The suspension consists of double wishbones front and rear, with conventional dampers, springs, and anti-roll bars, and there are five drive modes to adjust aspects like comfort, sportiness, and range. The suspension is attached to a carbon-fiber tub designed to seat two.
The Battista also features a unique sound that can be heard from inside and outside the car. It has a core frequency of 54 Hz, which according to Pininfarina is an an organic frequency that is a multiple of 432 Hz, known as “Verdi’s A,” conceived by famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi.
Pininfarina Battista production
Due to a vast list of personalization options, no two Battistas will be the same. Each car requires 10 people working roughly 10 weeks to complete, with the process starting with the bonding of the carbon tub to the body, then moving to painting, then assembly of the interior, and then final assembly of items like the butterfly doors. The last steps include wheel and steering alignment, testing for water penetration, and a final sign-off and completion of the car’s digital log. Throughout each phase there are multiple quality checks, including a final on-road test.
The original price for the Battista was set at $2.2 million. Pininfarina has 25 dealerships around the globe to handle sales, with North American locations found in Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco and Vancouver.
Buyers can choose between five- or 10-year maintenance programs, and can also opt for a package of replacement body panels that’s crafted and matched to the original configuration and painted at the time of production. The battery only has a three-year warranty as standard but buyers can extend this to 10 years. Pininfarina will also have a “flying doctor” service where a technician can fly out to an owner’s location to deal with certain problems, as well as an offer of five years of free charging with the ChargePoint network.
