Italian firm Pininfarina has designed some of the greatest cars in history for other companies, but now it’s building one of its own. The car, set to debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2019, will be an electric supercar. Pininfarina claims it will be the fastest and most powerful thing on four wheels to ever come out of Italy. Previously known by the code name PF0, Pininfarina announced the car will be named Battista, after company founder Battista Pininfarina (born Battista Farina).
Pininfarina is one of the most famous names in car design. Over the years, the company worked with the likes of Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati, designing legendary cars like the Alfa Romeo Spider, Cisitalia 202, and Ferrari 275 GTB. The company eventually fell on hard times, and was purchased by Indian conglomerate Mahindra. The new owner established a car-building division called Automobili Pininfarina to build the new supercar. Selling a car with his name on it was always a goal of Battista Pininfarina, his grandson Paolo, who currently runs the business, said in a statement.
“This is genuinely a dream come true. My grandfather always had the vision that one day there would be a standalone of Pininfarina-branded cars,” he said.
The Battista should do its namesake proud. Pininfarina claims that output will be 1,900 horsepower and 1,696 pound-feet of torque. The car will use that prodigious power to reach 60 mph from a standstill in under 2.0 seconds, and achieve a top speed of over 250 mph, according to Pininfarina. The company also boasts of over 300 miles of range, although that will probably only be achieved at saner speeds.
Pininfarina’s coachbuilding division, which has built the bodywork for many great cars, will make the body for the Battista. The powertrain will be supplied by Rimac Automobili, a Croatian firm that has already developed its own electric supercars, and has ties to Porsche.
The Pininfarina Battista will enter production in 2020. Just 150 cars will be built, with 50 each allocated to the United States, Europe, and the Middle East/Asia. The price will be somewhere between $2 million and $2.5 million. That means the Battista will arrive around the same time as two other drool-worthy new supercars: the McLaren Speedtail and the Aston Martin Valkyrie.
