After spending most of the last nine decades behind some of the world's most highly coveted, exotic sports cars, Pininfarina finally finds itself at the very front and center of a gorgeous supercar. The sharp, exorbitantly fast Battista has officially made it into limited series production, the first example having recently enjoyed a private client shakedown in Monaco. The 1,874-hp electric hyper GT looks every second's worth of the 1,250+ hours spent handcrafting each one.
We wouldn't have personally chosen that particular shade of green for our Battista (or any car), but it nicely showcases the unique color palette on offer at Pininfarina's 25,000-sq-ft (2,300-sq-m) bespoke atelier in Cambiano, Italy. Each buyer can select from 28 colors inspired by the Piemonte region of Italy, offering the opportunity for some very distinctive Battistas rocketing around highway and track. (Personally, we're all about the sinfully deep, dark shade of red called "Rosso Barberesco.") The painting process alone takes three to four weeks of the 10-week Battista construction process and involves a new paint compound with multilayer metallic finish.
"Our objective with Battista was to deliver an alluring new kind of ‘Gran Turismo’ driving experience, leveraging unprecedented power developed through electrification and perfectly complimenting the exquisite work of our design team in the shapes and details featuring throughout this hyper GT," explained chief product and engineering officer Paolo Dellachà.
Dellachà and Co have been quite successful in that regard, creating a gorgeous four-motored GT that had professional race car driver Nick Heidfeld's legs wobbling after a test run. Perhaps we're editorializing a bit, but Pininfarina is fond of quoting Heidfeld as admitting: "I've never driven anything as powerful as the Battista."
Not surprising because the Battista's quad-motor e-drive boasts more than double the horsepower of an F1 car, landing pretty high on the list of world's most powerful cars. The 1,696 lb-ft (2,300-Nm) of torque helps in getting things off to a very solid start as the Battista ticks off sub-2-second 0-62-mph (100-km/h), sub-6-second 0-124-mph (200-km/h) and sub-12-second 0-186-km/h (300-km/h) sprints. From there, it keeps on pushing right up to a top speed just over 217 mph (350 km/h).
For those taking things a bit more slowly and frugally, Pininfarina estimates a range up to 310 miles (500 km), provided by the T-shaped 120-kWh battery pack tucked down low. But what's the fun in owning a Battista if you can't bleed the battery dry after a few hot laps? A 25-minute 20-to-80 percent charge gets you back behind the wheel after quaffing an espresso or two in a futile attempt to keep pace with the car's massive energy reserve.
The 28-color selection certainly seems like plenty, but it's nothing compared to the insane 13.9 quintillion exterior or 128 million interior aesthetic combinations. Those numbers take into account things like the available exterior "jewelry package," different wheel finishes, brake caliper colors, interior materials and engravings.
Pininfarina plans only 150 examples of the Battista for distribution around the world, including North America. Five of those cars will be the ultra-exclusive Anniversario edition, which has already sold out.
If the production launch of the Battista has anyone wondering about its close cousin the Rimac Nevera, they'll be happy to know that the latter also entered production this week. After Nevera #000 debuted in its own unique shade of green and attacked last month's Goodwood Hillclimb, Rimac announced this week that it has moved on to hand-assembling the first customer cars. It plans to build 50 cars a year and will hold onto #000 as a demonstrator and marketing car.
Source: Pininfarina and Rimac
