FLYING COACH

5th December 2024

Once Ferrari’s go-to bodyshop, Pininfarina now builds first-class hypercars of its own. Words by Ben Barry.

When Italian design house Pininfarina unveiled its one-off Battista Targamerica at Monterey Car Week on the US West Coast, the all-electric hypercar didn’t just wow Generation Social Media – it resonated with serious collectors who venerate Pininfarina’s coachbuilding glory days.

But wait: ‘coach’ what?

Back when Pininfarina was founded in 1928, cars were assembled in two main pieces – the chassis, which looked much like a skateboard with an engine up front, and the body, which could be pretty much whatever the wealthy fancied so long as it fit on top. Coachbuilders took care of the latter, and Italy’s ‘carrozzeria’ remain the envy of the world, from Bertone to Zagato.
Cambiano-based (and now Indian-owned) Pininfarina has designed cars for numerous car makers but is synonymous with Ferrari. Its sleek bodywork has graced everything from thousands of Ferrari F430s to one-off specials made for the likes of Eric Clapton.

When it launched its first-ever car in 2021, Automobili Pininfarina appropriately named it in honour of its founder, Battista Pininfarina.

Limited to just 150 units and costing £2m plus, Battista owners are unlikely to suffer the indignity of parking up next to another, but one particular owner wanted to make absolutely sure. Having already acquired one example, this renowned US collector commissioned the one-off Targamerica at Monterey’s Californian Mecca for petrolheads last year, working with Pininfarina design boss Dave Amantea to dream up the world’s first authentically coach-built EV hypercar.

Like the regular Battista, the Targamerica is based on a lightweight carbonfibre chassis and shrouded in exquisitely sleek carbonfibre bodywork. Its performance is also equally breath-taking, courtesy of one electric motor per wheel and a total output of 1900hp – enough to blitz the 0-62mph benchmark in less than two seconds, breeze past 186mph and lay claim to being ‘Italy’s fastest road-legal car’. In keeping with tradition, said chassis comes courtesy of another marque, Crotia’s Rimac – now in cahoots with Bugatti and ultimately falling beneath the Porsche umbrella, whose entire group benefits from Rimac’s blistering battery innovation.

Compared with the original design, the Targamerica’s USP lies with its roof, as the name hints (‘Targa’ was first used by Porsche to denote a car with a removable roof panel but which retains the rear screen and roof bar).

one electric motor per wheel and a total output of 1900hp – enough to blitz the 0-62mph benchmark in less than two seconds

This is no hatchet job. Both the Battista’s doors and the rear section of the roof had to be redesigned, and the carbonfibre chassis strengthened to make up for the reduction in structural stiffness. There’s also a new fabric roof section to drop in should the weather turn.

Liquid silver exterior paint enhanced with blue and black detailing nods to another sun-seeking Pininfarina one-off – a 1986 Ferrari Testarossa Spider presented to Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli – and is complemented by ceramic-polished five-spoke alloys.

Inside, the Targamerica gets supple tan leather upholstery and contrasting black hide for the dashboard and steering wheel, plus tailored tan luggage embossed with the roofless Targamerica silhouette. All predictable enough. More startling is the bespoke cigar holder and humidor nestled between the two seats in an aluminium and glass case.

There’s no word on exactly how much this, ahem, smoking-hot one-off cost, but with the ‘standard’ Battista retailing for two-million-plus, you can only imagine what was ‘charged’ for the Targamerica.

CONTINUE READING

The countdown to petrol obsolescence is nigh, but that doesn’t mean the fiercest engine configuration of all time is retiring quietly, as Ben Barry is pleased to report.

Leaving the clogged streets of central London on the A40, head northwest into beautiful Buckinghamshire, taking to the skies over the Chiltern Hills.

A leisurely potter through London’s teeming heart of hip then a verdant blast through Henry VIII’s favourite hunting ground.