The special edition Battista, priced at €3.1 million, is a tribute to the world’s first Formula 1 champ, Nino Farina.
Pininfarina has taken the wraps off a special edition Battista – the Edizione Nino Farina. This is the second special edition in the Battista portfolio, following the Battista Anniversario released in 2020 to celebrate the brand’s 90th anniversary. The Nino Farina edition priced at €3.1 million (over Rs 28 crore) and, like the Anniversario, it is limited to just five units.
What makes the Edizione Nino Farina special is its very human and personal story. The car is built to celebrate a family legacy – the first-ever F1 World Champion, Nino Farina, who is also the nephew of Pininfarina’s founder Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina.
Speaking to Autocar India, Dave Amantea, chief design officer at Automobili Pininfarina, said, “People are shocked when they learn that the family had two legendary people, Battista and Nino, and so we wanted to tell this untold story to the world.”
Paolo Dellacha, CEO of Automobili Pininfarina, said, “Today’s collectors immediately recognise the value of the Pininfarina brand and our ability to create icons and this edition addresses the luxury segment in a very exclusive way.”
The car will premiere at the Goodwood Festival of Speed scheduled between July 13 and 16 and will be driven by F1 racer and former Goodwood hillclimb champion Nick Heidfeld, who was also instrumental in the development of the Battista.
Battista Edizione Nino Farina design and style
The Nino Farina has many unique design touches, of which the first you will notice is the striking red paint called ‘Rosso Nino’. With the colour and the overall body lines, you would think Ferrari – Pininfarina has, after all, designed many of their cars for years – but the paint is a deep red metallic shade meant to celebrate the colour of Nino’s race cars. And as Amantea explains, the metallic flakes are also red and not silver like in many other metallic paints.
The lower edge of the car is underlined by a white band and a thin blue line, and this, along with the large ‘01’ numeral painted onto the rear fenders, lends the Battista a very cool retro vibe. The white and blue dual-tone detailing is also used on the wing mirrors and the underside of the rear wing, where there is also another neat little detail consisting of Nino’s name, a laurel wreath and the number ‘01’ indicating the first world championship win. The alloys are a new design and are in a satin gold shade; other details are Nino’s signature on the driver’s side rear fender and his name etched into the headlights.
The Nino Farina also gets the Furiosa pack that debuted on the Anniversario and this can be optioned on the regular Battista too. It consists of a front splitter, side blades and a wider air diffuser that increases cornering downforce.
Battista Edizione Nino Farina interiors
Open the butterfly doors and what will immediately grab your attention will be the two seats in differing colours. “We imagine Battista and Nino both out on a drive, Nino at the wheel pushing hard as ever, with his proud uncle at the side and that’s what the two seats signify,” says Amantea. The driver, or Nino’s seat, is black and has an embroidered laurel wreath and the ‘01’ graphic in gold on the headrest area. The passenger, or Battista’s seat, is upholstered in beige with the Pininfarina logo atop.
The seat-belts are finished in the same blue as the outside accents, the steering wheel has a brushed aluminium, anodised black plate, bearing the ‘Nino Farina’ signature. As special editions tend to have, there are a few more ‘Nino Farina’ decals around the cabin. Additionally, each of the five examples of the Nino Farina has a unique door plate, celebrating one of five landmarks in Nino’s life: Nino’s date and place of birth (1906 in Turin); his first F1 pole position and race victory at the 1950 British Grand Prix; his second victory in 1950 at the Swiss Grand Prix; the third and final victory in 1950, at the Italian Grand Prix; and, finally, his 1950 F1 world championship victory.
Battista Edizione Nino Farina powertrain and performance
The Nino Farina edition is powered by the same all-electric drivetrain as the Battista, which means it gets a quad motor setup putting out a massive 1,900hp and 2,340Nm of torque, powered by a 120kWh battery. Its performance stats stand at 0-100kph in 1.86s and 0-200kph in just 4.79 seconds.
Recently, we set a new Indian top speed record with Pininfarina Battista at the NATRAX facility, hitting a max velocity of 358.03kph. New world records for 0-300kph and quarter-mile acceleration, along with a host of other records, were also established then, which have since been broken.