Pininfarina, one of the auto industry’s most storied names, is preparing for a special display of all-electric “hypercar” in Geneva next month.
Luca Borgogno, Automobili Pininfarina’s chief design officer, said Pininfarina SpA is pushing ahead with the development and testing of the Battista – the world’s first fully electric luxury hypercar ahead of the Geneva International Motor Show.
“We have been humbled by the overwhelmingly positive responsive response to the aesthetics of Battista since it was first revealed. So we have chosen to create a playful and interesting prototype livery design that is clearly inspired by the electrifying performance that lies beneath the beautiful exterior,” he said.
(Pininfarina’s Battista EV quietly punches out 1,900 hp.)
“To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the famous Pininfarina design house, the team at Automobili Pininfarina is now preparing the ultimate expression of Battista hypercar design for its world premiere at next month’s Geneva International Motor Show,” Borgogano said.
As a design house, Pininfarina has designed cars all over the world as its designers have inspired vehicles built by carmakers from not only Italy but also Germany, the United States and South Korea.
Automobili Pininfarina is now in the midst of a program to develop and evaluate the newest model in the places where it will be driven in a hand-crafted Battista, which will be ready for clients at the end of 2020. The new Battista will be built at the company’s facility in in Cambiano, Italy.
(Hyundai’s Geneva concept a “Prophecy” of its EV plans.)
The Battista’s technical development is headed by Rene Wollmann, formerly of Mercedes-AMG. In the driving seat of the Battista prototype vehicles will be former Formula One and Formula E legend Nick Heidfeld, who is now a development driver for the Italian luxury car marque.
“The mule vehicles running the chassis and powertrain concepts for Battista have already achieved 80% of their performance capability without issue. This means our EV performance is already equal to the most powerful combustion engine-powered hypercars currently in the world,” said Wollmann, adding simulation and wind tunnel tests will fine tune the aerodynamics of the new racer.
“By fine tuning the aero packaging, we’ve already seen significant increase in the potential range of Battista versus our original predictions,” he noted.
(Porsche follows Hyundai’s lead, invests in Rimac.)
“In the next six months we will progress to delivering a thrilling pure electric hypercar that seamlessly produces 1,900 horsepower … across a range of driving modes to suit varying environments,” he said.
