Pininfarina Names Its Electric Hypercar “Battista” After Brand’s Founder

Pininfarina has revealed the name of the production version of its PF0 concept car. Fittingly, for the brand’s first production car, it will wear the name of the company founder.

Battista Farina created Carrozzeria Pininfarina in 1930. The tenth of eleven children, Battista acquired the nickname “Pinin” — youngest brother — when he was a baby. It became so much a part of his name that he legally changed it, in 1961, to Battista Pininfarina.

The company became known for its coach-building and design services. Pininfarina is strongly linked to Ferrari, but has also designed and, in some case, manufactured other cars like the Peugeot 406 Coupe. It had always been Battista’s dream to build and market a Pininfarina-brand vehicle.

Until now, Pininfarina has referred to its first car as the PF0. The fully carbon-fiber supercar uses a powertrain developed by Croatian electric vehicle specialist Rimac. This includes four independent motors — one in each wheel — allowing for a sophisticated torque-sensing four-wheel drive system.

With 1,900hp and 1,700lbft on tap, the car is capable of both 0-60mph in under two seconds and a 250mph top speed. Pininfarina promises a range of over 300 miles, and will unveil the car in full at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show.

Paolo Pininfarina, chairman of Pininfarina said:

“This is genuinely a dream come true. My grandfather always had the vision that one day there would be a stand-alone range of Pininfarina-branded cars. This hypercar will boast world-beating performance, technological innovation and of course elegant styling. For me, we simply had to call it Battista. His dream becomes reality today as we link our glorious past with the future of motoring.”

Pininfarina will make no more than 150 Battistas, with 50 each allocated to the USA, Europe, and Middle East/Asia. First customer deliveries will take place in late 2020, for around $2.5m per car.

Following the Battista, the brand will produce a range of SUVs, including the electric PF1 in 2021. This will reportedly use the platform and powertrain from the Rivian R1S.

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