Pininfarina Battista: Five reasons why we love it... and five why we loathe it

The Alfa Romeo Spider. The MGB GT. The Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta, F40 and Dino. These are just some of the cars drawn up by Italian design house Pininfarina.

Ever since it began designing cars in 1948, Pininfarina has been responsible for some of the most beautiful creations in the automotive world, and all of its cars have almost exclusively been powered by combustion engines.

Until recently, however, the company has changed its ways. Not only is it beginning to style more and more electric cars, but it has moved away from designing and become a car manufacturer in its own right.

And that is how we come to the Battista. This 1876bhp electric hypercar is Pininfarina's statement to the world that it is not only the architect of pretty cars, but a manufacturer and developer of them.

The Battista arrived in 2021 as a rival to the likes of the Rimac Nevera, Lotus Evija and Aspark Owl; adrenaline-pumping, high-velocity freaks that are as expensive as they are technically advanced.

But what is it that sets the Battista apart from cars like this? After all, it's not that difficult to make an electric car very powerful; there are lots of them on the road.

To find out, we're going to look at the things we love and hate about this car, from its outrageous performance to its interior luxury.

We LOVE the Pininfarina Battista because...

It would be rude to not talk about its performance, first. 0-62mph happens in less than two seconds, 186mph is dispatched in less than 12 seconds, its top speed is 217mph and it sends 1876bhp to each wheel via four permanent magnet synchronous motors. This makes it a suitable continent-bashing grand tourer, and then some.

There are five driving modes which can offer different levels of power. ‘Calma’ gives you 400bhp, ‘Pura’ has 1000bhp and the highest setting - ‘Furiosa’ - gives you all of the car's available power.

In terms of range, it is competitive with the Rimac Nevera, its 120kWh battery allowing for 311 miles between charges. Oh, and it can charge at up to 250kW.

We LOATHE the Pininfarina Battista because...

Because of the speeds and levels of acceleration that this car can achieve, long straights on a track become very short ones, corner exits blur into braking zones and you're spending so much time thinking about going and stopping that turning a corner is almost an afterthought.

This, perhaps, is not what should happen in a car that wants to be as good on a track as it is to live with every day. What's more, the playfulness of the rear end can hinder your ability to really enjoy it whenever you want to. More on that later, though.

We LOVE the Pininfarina Battista because...

While design is subjective, it feels wrong to not mention it when you're talking about the first car originating from a historically significant design house.

And when it comes to the Battista, you can tell that Pininfarina really knows what it is doing, because the car’s bodywork is both functional and pretty. The channels that funnel air through different parts of the body are sculpted perfectly so that they sit nicely together, and its overall profile is sleek but not indistinctive.

We think that this car’s design will age very well, and will likely join a long line-up of Pininfarina-penned cars that are quite beautiful to behold.

We LOATHE the Pininfarina Battista because...

The levels of performance on offer and the car's ability to encourage you to drive quickly means that its electric range can be depleted much faster than you would like.

At least its ability to charge at 250kW means you will be able to top it up from 10% to 80% in around half an hour, however this will only work with a compatible charger.

We LOVE the Pininfarina Battista because...

Inside, it's well-finished enough to feel luxurious. Sitting behind the steering wheel are two screens showing you information such as your charge state, engine mode and seating position, while between them sits a simple speedometer so that you can keep track of the Battista's immense turn of speed.

Elsewhere, the seats are trimmed in quilted suede and there is a perfect carbonfibre weave on the top of the dashboard. Not only this, but you switch between each of the different drive modes using a tactile rotary switch.

What's more, visibility is good: there are haunches on the wings to help you gauge the car’s edges, with big wing mirrors and a central mirror that has a camera function.

We LOATHE the Pininfarina Battista because...

While it is sufficiently luxurious inside for a car that costs upwards of £2 million, it isn't as quiet or refined as some of its rivals. 

Because it has a monocoque that is made out of carbon fibre, you feel road surface imperfections far more acutely, and stones clunk loudly when they hit the chassis. What's more, you can hear the brake pedal click when you push it and the whine of the electronics is more obvious than you would want it to be.

We LOVE the Pininfarina Battista because...

For something that weighs 2200kg, the Battista steers very nicely. Pitch and roll are well contained too, but what you should know about the Battista is that it will send itself into controlled slides very easily. Even modest throttle inputs push it into a slide when you exit a corner, and if you keep your right foot pinned, it feels like the rear tyres have no grip at all. 

And so, with 1206bhp going to the rear wheels alone, this car does things that no combustion car can do, and makes anything from the ICE world seem out of date and frankly old fashioned.

We LOATHE the Pininfarina Battista because...

You don't get very much luggage space. Perhaps this is obvious for the type of car that it is, but aside from a glass-lidded compartment that sits behind the cockpit, as on the McLaren GT, there is no boot or frunk into which you can place your items. 

What's more, having a glass-lidded compartment might leave whatever is in there more vulnerable to being stolen.

We LOVE the Pininfarina Battista because...

Despite the Battista having more than enough - if too much - power to do what it has to do in everyday life, it is an unintimidating machine to drive at any speed. Because of the good visibility we mentioned, as well as the extremely well calibrated powertrain, you could be driving a lower-slung Tesla.

And because you don't have to worry about changing gears yourself or lifting a heavy clutch pedal, you're simply left to enjoy the driving experience - and this is what a GT car should be about.

We LOATHE the Pininfarina Battista because...

Pininfarina decided to partner with Rimac to develop the Battista, because no company with so few employees should go about creating its own car from scratch, especially one like this.

This means that it shares the same platform as the Nevera, which in turn means it feels similar in both power delivery and agility; this is probably something you don't want when you're spending this much money on a car.

Talking of its price, £2 million puts the Battista out of reach for most people. But we can at least dream…