Pininfarina's ultra-luxury EV is 'embracing the future': CEO

Ultra-luxury auto designer Automobili Pininfarina debuted its all-electric Battista hypercar in early 2023, an EV with a price tag of over $2 million.

Automobili Pininfarina CEO Paolo Dellachà joins Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian to discuss the Italian manufacturer's venture into the EV auto space, noting some of the design challenges that go into building each of its luxury electric vehicles.

"In a way the challenges are different, in a way the challenges are similar to the one of another vehicle and other technology," Dellachà states. "Pininfarina... didn't have any legacy in the combustion engine, so we decided already five years ago that for us it was about embracing the future and also embracing the technology that not only allow us to have a car which is emission-free, is also allowing the car to have the highest level of performance that you can now achieve today."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Video transcript

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: The rise of electric vehicles making its way into the ultra luxury space. Pininfarina, an iconic name in Italy, making an electric hypercar with a $2 million price tag. I recently sat down with the company's CEO Paolo de Luca and spoke to him about the company's growth, even if it's not about volume.

PAOLO DELLACHA: We are now in a phase where our production ramped up. Of course, it's a niche segment. It's a very rare product that we offer only to exclusive clients. And therefore, you cannot think about a huge volume. It's actually quite limited volumes. But this is in the essence of our business product and our, let's say, business strategy to stay in the luxury segment.

It's definitely a lot about technology, about performance, but still the key elements of Battista and every Pininfarina we will also develop in the future start and originate from the vision about the design.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: So Paolo, you mentioned niche vehicles, luxury vehicles. You also unveiled the B95 hypercar coachbuilt, only 10 examples, look stunning with that roofless design. What's the reaction been to it, and are you surprised, this is the big part, customers want to pay millions of dollars for an EV?

PAOLO DELLACHA: Well, we were quite happy with the overall reaction not only from customer but also from media and fans when we displayed for the very first time B95 at Monterey this year. There was a private unveil that was anyway soon broadcasted on the 16th of August, and then the car was brought at The Quail in Monterey on the 17th. And it was quite amazing to see the reaction of the people.

In this case, B95, which stands for Barchetta [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH], therefore celebrating the 95th anniversary of the brand when the first car will be delivered in 2025, is actually our first project where we are developing a few offer over the platform that is shared together with the Battista.

So the performance is still the one deriving from the Battista, which will be even brought to a further extreme level. The car will be lighter and will be tuned in a way to really provide the ultimate driving experience, even more when it will be an open sky driving experience.

I think that our customer go beyond the car being electric. I mean, being electric is more about the technology. Is, of course, a lot about our commitment when we start this journey. Pininfarina itself didn't have any legacy in the combustion engine.

So we decided already five years ago that for us, it was about embracing the future and also embracing the technology that not only allow us to have a car which is emission-free, is also allowing the car to have the highest level of performance that you can now achieve today, and this comes with electric.

Both in terms of maximum power but also in terms, a lot in the way of how the power and the torque are delivered, in the unique case of Battista, by four independent motors. So realizing the ideal torque vectoring, which results in something that is not only ultra fast, is also ultra fun to drive.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: You know, prior to you being CEO, you were a chief product and engineering officer. So you've been working behind, underneath the skin with these vehicles, putting them together. We talk to EVs as opposed to regular cars. You know, what are the main challenges with developing these vehicles and bringing them to market for a company like yours?

PAOLO DELLACHA: Well, in a way, the challenges are different. In a way, the challenges are similar to one of another vehicle with another technology. So there is a lot of predevelopment that is done since the beginning while the design is in the concept and evolution phase on a virtual base in terms of overall simulation, CFD, handling. We even use for Battista a full virtual simulator to start to pretune not only the power and performance but also the chassis, the suspension, to develop the best possible balance with the tires.

And then following that, you start to go in a testing phase with the early prototype and later on with the pre-production vehicles. Now in an electric vehicles, the elements and the system are in a way different to be addressed. Basically, you can imagine that the real motor in an electric vehicle is the battery pack.

So that's where really lies most of the technology and really lies most of the development when it's about from one side to develop the highest level of power and energy, and from the other side, to also contribute to the highest level of reliability and durability of the system, which are really something that are in relation with the technology of the module, which is encapsulating the cells and the software, which is overall supervising the use of that power and energy.

So from one side, I could easily tell you that in an electric vehicle software is really a key dominant part, not only for the human machine interface but also for the overall handling of the power and energy, including the life protection of that vehicle.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: My thanks to Paolo Dellacha.