Pininfarina releases first driving shots of £1.8m Battista hypercar ahead of Monterey dynamic debut

PININFARINA has released the first action shots of its incredible 1,874bhp pure-electric hypercar ahead of its North American public debut next week, at prestigious Monterey Car Week celebrations in California.

While the Battista has already been shown off by the design house-turned car maker (its debut was at the Geneva Motor Show in March this year), the zero-emission speed machine will also be seen on the road for the first time around Monterey, in a commemorative “Pininfarina Legends Drive” convoy around the local area on August 15.

Pininfarina says its Legends Drive will give prospective clients their first glimpse of the Battista’s latest design, which has been subtly revised since Geneva.

These tweaks, which include a restyled front bumper and wing mirrors, aren’t made for purely aesthetic purposes; the car maker claims the more aerodynamically-efficient changes mean it now expects the Battista to be able to travel 300 miles on a single charge — up from around 280 miles of range Pininfarina said it was targeting when it originally revealed the car five months ago.

The decision to showcase the supercar in the States is no coincidence; Pininfarina expects many of the Battistas it makes to find homes in America. Of the 150 examples it intends to build, Pininfarina has allocated 50 of them to the country. Those Battistas will be going to very affluent new homes, of course: prices begin at around €2m (£1.84m at current exchange rates).

While the company’s efforts at Pebble Beach will be focused on flaunting its first own-brand production model, Pininfarina will be also featuring other models at the event. As well as the “jaw-dropping line-up of classic Pininfarina-designed cars” that will be joining the Battista on the Legends Drive, the auto maker will also be showing special guests a “PURA Vision” design model that hints at what to expect from its forthcoming pure-electric luxury road cars.

Pininfarina is no stranger to the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Monterey Car Week festival. Numerous Pininfarina-styled cars have been entered into the classic car event over the years (including the 1936 Lancia Astura Pinin Farina Cabriolet that was crowned Best In Show in 2016), and Pininfarina quietly showed the Battista to VIP guests at Pebble Beach last year, in a behind-closed-doors preview.

The Pininfarina Battista isn’t the only high-speed machine to make a recent dynamic debut. Aston Martin sent a development version of its Valkyrie hypercar around Silverstone last month, in the build up to this year’s F1 British Grand Prix, and the hybrid Toyota GR Super Sport was also seen taking to the track in June 2019.

Even though electric cars remain niche appeal vehicles (the latest figures indicate just 1% of all new cars sold in the UK this year so far are pure-electric), the Pininfarina Battista isn’t the only zero-emission hypercar on the way. Croatian car maker Rimac says it will start building its C_Two (the successor to the Concept_One that Richard Hammond infamously crashed on The Grand Tour) next year, and the 1,973bhp Lotus Evija hypercar will also enter production by the end of 2020.

Tweet to @J_S_Allen Follow @J_S_Allen

Car makers’ electric vehicle plans for 2023 and beyond

https://www.driving.co.uk/car-clinic/driving-green/driving-green-are-pure-electric-cars-suitable/