Automobili Pininfarina Battista can hit 60 mph in less than 2 seconds, thanks to four electric ... [+] motors providing 1726 lb. ft. of torque. Pininfarina has its mojo back. If all future Pininfarinas meet this level of excellence of performance and design, which they should, Anand Mahindra’s investment is safe.
Last Thursday on roads north of Malibu, I had 90 minutes behind the wheel of the first production Automobili Pininfarina’s Battista, with chief engineer Paolo Dellacha riding shotgun.
When you walk up to Battista, it is unmistakably Pininfarina. Elegant, graceful, complex yet flowing ... [+] surfaces, subtle integration of aerodynamic elements. This is not Brutalist sculpture like one sees with a certain German maker. Note the chisel nose, interesting front splitter, tight gap between tire and wheel arch, coke-bottle sides. Note how complex curved surfaces simply “disappear” at their closure. This is what an electric Ferrari should look like.
With 1726 lb. ft. of instant torque generated by four inboard-mounted electric motors, a “super-brain” carefully metering and adjusting power sent to each individual wheel at any given moment to maximize speed and agility, Battista proves beyond doubt that in its post-Ferrari era, Pininfarina has its mojo back.
Interior achieves classic Italian man-machine relationship. Note speed readout flatscreen mounted on ... [+] top of steering column, dead ahead. Unlike supercar companies that compromise man-machine to achieve an exterior design aesthetic, Battista follows the same principles one finds in a Ferrari, sensibilities Pininfarina helped develop for over a half-century. You know by instinct exactly where the corners are, the wheels are. Technically, Pininfarina is a new carmaker, and this their first car. But in fact, the company has been developing cars and defining the man-machine relationship for 91 years. Brainwave connection.
With the launch of Battista, Automobili Pininfarina fulfills the family’s nearly century-old dream of not just being carrozzeria for other carmakers, but of manufacturing their own brand of automobiles.
Shown clearly here, the hollowed out sections of the butterfly door’s roof panel. This gains more ... [+] than an inch of headroom. Not quite a Gurney Bump, but the same concept.
At the close of my drive, I executed two acceleration runs in the most aggressive calibration, “Furioso,” in which Battista can hit 60 mph in under 2 seconds, shaving a half-second off the sprint time of Bugatti Chiron, the quickest internal combustion series-production hypercar.
Pininfarina Battista has the electric equivalent to 1900 horsepower. Power can be metered ... [+] individually to each wheel. Each wheel has a dedicated electric motor.
Keep the hammer down and Battista covers the quarter mile in under 9 seconds. Stay on it at the quarter-mile post and another 3.5 seconds carries Battista to just shy of 190 mph. Top speed of 217 fits the norm of Italian supercars. All with a range in the “calma” green setting of 300 miles, and maybe 200 miles range if driven con brio.
Flatsceens with clean, simple no-nonsense graphics. Here, in “calma,” which is the most efficient ... [+] setting, Battista has an estimated 300 miles of range. If you set to Pura and drive with style, maybe you have a little more than 200 miles range. That is in fact not far off range for big-motor internal combustion supercars and hypercars; use a piston car hard and watch the gas gauge fall before your very eyes.
In Furioso, acceleration is ruthless, relentless, but with none of the sound and fury of a piston engine screaming its guts out, which makes the view out the windshield all the more intense and otherworldly.
Drive control. Depress to start her up. Rotate. The touchpoints are all done in classical materials, ... [+] like this rotator made from billet aluminum. It has that positive motion that is so satisfying.
Battista is a bold Darwinian evolution of the mid-engine Italian sports car, but it’s easy to think of it as some species of 4-wheeled particle accelerator. It fits gracefully into the legacy of Pininfarina-designed Ferrari supercars of the past half-century, yet it’s different, of the 21st Century.
Battista has redefined for the entire auto industry the meaning of effortless acceleration. Once my diaphragm and stomach wall could relax after letting off the throttle, involuntary war whoops filled the cabin. Dellacha, who defines Italian Cool, was only slightly annoyed by my Spring Break outbursts.
Pininfarina Battista is not just a battery-electric acceleration sled. It handles well int he big ... [+] power bends.
Battista is no mere straight-line rocket sled as is the case in many electric cars. Dellacha, who cut his teeth developing V8 and V12 cars at Ferrari in the Montezemolo era, from the 360 Modena forward, tuned Battista to have “analog” sensibilities. He has tailored a sense of connection with the mechanical aspects of the car: suspension, steering, jounce and rebound of dampers and springs, roll-rates in cornering, inputs at throttle and brake pedal. Build speed, hold the throttle even and glide through a big sweeper and Battista exhibits the fine handling of an Italian supercar.
And for the record, let me briefly explain the name “Automobili Pininfarina.” A few years after Ferrari took design in-house, Anand Mahindra, leader of the Mahindra and Mahindra industrial group of India, purchased the rights to automotive production from the Pininfarina family. I met with Anand when the car was presented at Pebble Beach back in 2018, when he laid out his vision for a new all-electric luxury car brand. Bear in mind, that even though I use the short-hand of “Pininfarina,” the deal allows the Pininfarina family to develop its architecture and industrial design business as a 21st Century atelier, but the cars belong to Automobili Pininfarina. I still don’t fully understand it, but there you have it.
Active aero rear wing is like the razor-thin flukes of a carbon-fiber sea creature. It trims aero at ... [+] higher speeds, and when braking from high speed rises as an airbrake, which in part helps shift the center of gravity rearward so the car squats down with less nosedive, less compression of the front suspension.
Just like in the best sports cars of the Golden Era, to bank smoothly into that big sweeper, you simply curl your wrist with a squeeze on the side of the chunky steering wheel. Electrics and electronics may be the headline of the Battista story, but it’s no video-game toy.
No V12 with crackle-finish heads to display, another advantage to four relatively compact electric ... [+] motors and a sandwich of batteries underneath and behind the cockpit. Instead, fitted luggage for that long weekend in Santa Barbara. Yes, you will want to order the fitted luggage, matching the interior color scheme. Note the aero channels accented here with naked carbon-fiber, funneling air off the shoulder and top into the rear wing area to aid stability at higher speeds.
It’s a hypercar, and thus taut even in the softest calibration. That said, we ambled serenely along PCH north of Malibu for five minutes before turning up yet another canyon road. Battista possesses everyday capability. If you’re one of the lucky 150 owners, don’t hesitate to drive it to a mid-morning presentation in Brentwood or DTLA.
My well-traveled satchel. Battista achieves the highest level of man-machine relationship expected ... [+] from the best Italian supercars. As I've said before, it's like an electric Ferrari.
No need to study Zen yogi to slide behind the steering wheel, either. Thanks to butterfly doors, very low sills, and a deep door opening, just face outward, brace a hand on the doorframe, aim your backside at the seat, and drop with hip rotation, then draw legs and feet in. You can go Full Steve McQueen, coolly precise—no need for a Fosbury Flop or scissor kicks. A woman in a short cocktail dress can maintain dignity, her deep knee bend not creating a scene at the valet stand.
Subtlety of aero shown here. Exposed carbon rocker sill, and the aero “blade” ahead of rear wheel ... [+] arch. Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires—only the very best. On the “furioso” version of the car, the rear wheels are 21s. Otherwise, 20-inch.
Battista quickly becomes an extension of self, surely a payout from Dellacha’s years with Ferrari, which knows man-machine as well as any company on earth. Sightlines forward, across the fendercrests, and to the sides bring instinctive, subconscious connection. As my headline said on an earlier story about this car, think of it as an electric Ferrari. That’s exactly how the machine feels.
Pininfarina provides full "atelier" service to create one-off vehicles. With the exception of the ... [+] five "anniversary" editions (already sold), no two Battistas will be exactly the same.
There’s enough legroom for the inseam on my six foot two frame. Thin-shell buckets are comfortable but with ample bolstering. If you wear size 13s like mine, opt for moccasins or a loafer, not a pair of hefty lace-up Oxfords. That’s the only compromise inside, and only applies to we roaming big footers.
Razor-thin rear lighting defines dimensions. Subtle, beautiful.
Battista uses a wide-angle camera mounted astern that projects a clean view onto the flatscreen rearview mirror. That slim mirror is eerie, and combined with Battista’s surprisingly well-formed sound signature, a drive can turn into something like a waking dream state, as if you’re starring in a futurist fantasy cult movie.
Billet alloy touch points. If this does not remind you of Pininfarina designs from the 1970s through ... [+] 1990s, you don’t know the cars. The interior is a work of art, with pure Italian sensibilities.
Thanks to the simplicity of a lithium-ion battery pack sandwiched between upper and lower cooling systems, Battista does not require a dozen radiators with active aero vents and complex cooling channels. Automobili Pininfarina is blessed with its own wind tunnel in Cambiano—they don’t have to rent time from Boeing or Airbus.
Headlight shows elegant use of carbon-fiber trim with exposed weave against the painted body ... [+] surfaces, also made of carbon-fiber.
Battista has all the expected control of airflow: over, under, sideways, down…and through, ensuring high-speed stability and proper cooling of the battery pack, the enormous Brembo brakes and electric motors. But in contrast to more boy racer supercars, in Battista aero addenda is not allowed to define beauty. It’s all subtly incorporated, flowing, curvaceous.
The tub and bodywork are carbon-fiber, another area of acknowledged Italian expertise. Here, ... [+] aerodynamic carbon-fiber body pieces at the rear shoulder.
For my old friends who worked with me in the days of paper and ink who remain internal combustion die-hards, understand that embracing this new form of supercar is not an act of infidelity. You’re simply discovering a new way to explore the pleasures of fast cars. I cannot turn my back on human invention, and I’d never turn down a return engagement with a Battista or any Automobili Pininfarina vehicle to come.
Battista possesses classic Pininfarina elegance, and classic Italian sports car proportions.
Battista sets new standards that challenge every performance car maker—every single one. Battista delivers a pure Italian supercar experience with a new electric rush. I dare you to point out a sports car in recent memory that is more beautiful.
When you walk up to Battista, it is unmistakably Pininfarina. Elegant, graceful, complex yet flowing ... [+] surfaces, subtle integration of aerodynamic elements. This is not Brutalist sculpture. Note the chisel nose, interesting front splitter, tight gap between tire and wheel arch, coke-bottle sides. Note how character lines simply "disappear" into complex curved surfaces at their closure. This is what an electric Ferrari should look like.
Supercar collectors who throw down $2 million for a Automobili Pininfarina Battista will never be disappointed with the car or the purchase and given time the 1900-horsepower battery-electric Battista will prove a fine investment, a hard asset that will deliver ROI in 10 or 20 years at Gooding’s Pebble Beach auction.
There has never been a car like Battista, the first manifestation of a compelling evolution of the supercar breed, assuring the car’s long-term significance.
Malibu becomes the Targa Florio in this photo. I think Louis Klemantaski would approve (go visit The ... [+] Klemantaski Collection to get the reference). Note the kinky winglets on the sideview mirrors—incredible bits of aero sculpture thanks to Pininfarina’s own wind tunnel in Cambiano.