Automobili Pininfarina has announced that its planned all electric hypercar will be named Battista after the company founder, and will aim to have the equivalent of 1900 bhp when it is ready in 2020.

The Battista will be designed and hand-built in very limited numbers at Pininfarina SpA under the watchful eye of Paulo Pininfarina, Battista’s grandson and current Pininfarina SpA Chairman.

Paolo Pininfarina shook hands with Michael Perschke, CEO,Automobili Pininfarina and Anand Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra Group Chairman, to confirm that the limited-edition hypercar would take his grandfather’s name and be the fastest and most powerful car ever designed and produced in Italy.

In aiming to be the world’s first fully-electric luxury hypercar, extreme levels of technology and functional design lie beneath the Battista’s carbon fibre exterior, supporting the delivery of staggering performance for a road car.

Power and torque equate to 1,900 bhp and 2,300 Nm respectively, meaning the Battista has the potential to accelerate to 100 kph in less than two seconds, faster than a Formula 1 car, and break the 400 kph top speed barrier – all with a potential zero emissions range of over 480 km.

Paolo Pininfarina, Chairman, Pininfarina SpA, 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.”

Automobili Pininfarina has made a series of announcements in recent weeks that underpin its ambitions to be the world’s most innovative, sustainable and desirable wholly-electric luxury performance car brand at launch in 2020:

• A €20 million investment in a new partnership with Pininfarina SpA that underpins design, development and production of the Battista and the future range of Automobili Pininfarina cars at Pininfarina SpA headquarters in Cambiano near Turin
• A multi-million-euro commercial partnership with Rimac Automobili, the world’s leading electric powertrain and battery supplier to premium and luxury automotive brands
• New leadership appointments across the business of automotive executives with significant experience in design, development, engineering and connectivity from brands such as Bugatti, McLaren, Pagani, Porsche and Volvo

No more than 150 Battistas will be available from late 2020 at a price estimated between US$2m and US$2.5m. 50 cars are currently allocated to the USA, 50 to Europe and 50 to the Middle East and Asia region.