Remember when all of us idiots thought the Porsche 918, Ferrari LaFerrari and McLaren P1 were at a level that would’ve been incomprehensible just a few decades before? That was cute. The Pininfarina Battista, the Italian design firm’s first-ever branded car, is going to be a 1,900 horsepower electric supercar. If this doesn’t turn you on to EVs, nothing can.
Pininfarina, the chic design firm that’s turned out tons of notable cars over the years, was bought by Mahindra back in 2015 and started talking about doing something crazy last year—like building its very own car from the ground up, for once.
Back then we knew it would cost about $2 million, and we knew it would be electric. And now it’s here, revealed today at the Geneva Motor Show.
The Pininfarina Battista is a batshit beauty, touting ridiculous performance figures. They’re promising around 1,900 HP and 1,969 lb-ft of torque from four electric motors juiced up by a 120 kWh battery pack.
The promise is around 300 miles of range, for now, with a rapid recharging capability of achieving 80 percent charge, or about 240 miles, in just 40 minutes.
They’re saying 0 to 60 mph in less than two seconds. Up to 186 mph in less than 12 seconds. A price of around £2 million, or roughly $2,600,000 at current exchange rates. Only 150 cars, if it actually gets made.
According to Top Gear, the instinctual approach to designing such a car was going full “spaceship” with something super futuristic, but the design house turned automaker decided it was more appropriate to stick to a design language people already associate with Pininfarina.
The company has Nick Heidfield, former F1 driver, and Dr. Peter Tutzer, who’s worked with Pagani and Bugatti in the past, working to sort out the car’s handling with the help of torque vectoring with the four electric motors, and managing the car’s reportedly significant weight.
The interior is very driver-oriented, with three screens all angled toward the driver, and an otherwise fairly standard two-seat supercar layout, with two-tone materials, blue accent lighting, and despite the astronomical performance claims, the Battista will still be focused on extreme luxury, too.
Rimac, itself an electric supercar manufacturer, is assisting in development of the Battista’s electrical architecture. The company also has other partners, including Pirelli for tire development, Salesforce for software, and the Mahindra F1 team, with plans to help spread around R&D costs, according to Top Gear.
Battista sales are planned to be spread around evenly between Europe and the rest of the world, with the car scheduled to begin North American deliveries in 2021.
I’m a bit skeptical it’ll happen, more so than I’d be if it were from Ferrari or Bugatti or someone. But I hope it does. This represents a future we can get behind.