Pininfarina Battista Electric Hypercar Wraps Up First High Speed Tests at Nardo

Case in point, Automobili Pininfarina’s first foray into the hypercar world – the Battista. After the Italian coachbuilder’s new manufacturing arm presented the fully electric supercar at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, the long and arduous development process kicked off.

The company showcased some of its secrets regarding the limited-edition Battista Anniversario, but the entire world knew patience was the name of the game – all the more so considering all the troubles the automotive industry has faced in 2020.

Fortunately, things are seemingly back on track, with the company happily announcing the “comprehensive test program is underway” and their Battista development prototype just finished “first high speed and handling tests at the Nardò Technical Center in Italy.”

That’s cause for celebration, and for some high-speed (and eerily silent, because there isn’t any crazy Italian combustion engine involved) action on the legendary facilities. The Nardo hosts both a high-speed circular ring (12.6 km/7.83 miles) and a twisted 6.2-km (3.85-mile) handling course.

By the way, under the camouflage, there’s a fully-fledged unit complete with the elegant carbon fiber bodywork and a fully finished interior – although we don’t get to catch any glimpse of it during the short presentation video (embedded below).

More importantly, seeing the Battista in action on the track (probably for the first time) also qualifies as a big milestone for the young automaker, and Pininfarina is now ready to move on. That means another nine “test and validation versions” of the purist EV will start piling up miles on both public roads and inside private test facilities.

As far as we can understand, the 1,900 PS (1,874 hp) hypercar’s next trials involve the fine-tuning, validation, and homologation of the “bespoke chassis settings, advanced torque vectoring system and unique sound experience.”