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Pininfarina Battista hypercar's output specified at 1,873 horsepower

Even in a galaxy far, far away, the Pininfarina Battista would stand out. After a delay of about three years, the official specifications of the all-electric hypercar have been revealed: Full power is rated at 1,873 horsepower, outputting 1,697 foot-pounds of torque. Sixty-two miles per hour arrives in 1.86 seconds, with 124 mph coming in 4.75 seconds. 217 mph is the estimated top speed. (The Rimac Nevera recently hit 258.) The 120kWh battery pack should enable a range of about 280 miles from a single charge. A pair of electric motors are mounted to each axle, each motor powering a specific wheel and giving the Battista full torque vectoring capability. Pricing — and this is one of those cars that, if one has to ask, just move on — is about $2.2 million, which places it in the territory of the Bugatti Chiron. For those customers considering an upsell, a limited “anniversario” edition will comprise five of the expected 150-unit build run. It differs from the standard version by some cosmetic alterations, which lifts the price by some $70,000-plus. 0r you could buy a BMW M3 as a chase car. The two-seater Battista is named for Battista “Pinin” Farina, who founded Carrozzeria Pininfarina in 1930. A lot of its battery, carbon-fiber chassis and motor components come from Rimac, the nascent Croatian electric supercar maker that recently paired with Porsche to take over Bugatti.  Many more details about the carÂ’s development, several photos and our driving impressions can be found in this Autoblog post from August.   Auto News By the Numbers Green BMW Bugatti Green Automakers Green Driving Coupe Performance Supercars Pininfarina Battista

Volkner Performance S is an RV with a Bugatti in its belly

Going on a long road trip in a Bugatti Chiron is easier said than done: There are a lot of things to love about the hypercar, but cargo space isn't one of them. German recreational vehicle (RV) manufacturer Volkner has a solution in the form of a big, bus-like motorhome with enough space between its front and rear wheels to house a Chiron. Volkner's Performance S looks just like a regular motorhome when you're stuck behind it in traffic. It's as big and as boxy as a tour bus, and its front end features antenna-like mirrors. It's what's inside the box that's impressive. The panel between the front and rear passenger-side wheels flips up to reveal a car-sized metal tray that slides out from the underbody. Controlled by a wired remote, it's big enough to hold a 178.9-inch long and 80.2-inch wide Chiron. Volkner Performance S View 3 Photos It's unclear whether Volkner made structural reinforcements to its motorhome in order to accommodate; the space the Chiron sleeps in is normally reserved for lighter items such as luggage. And, while most promotional material shows a Bugatti emerging from the RV's belly, anything that's smaller than a Chiron fits; one of the firm's images depicts a Porsche 911 parked in the storage space. Don't try to park a Toyota 4Runner under there, however. Inside, the Performance S looks like a five-star hotel, and it's bigger than many college dorm rooms. It boasts leather-upholstered seats, cabinets made with real wood, and LED lighting, among other features. Posh vacationers can work directly with the brand to configure an interior that suits their needs. If you splurged on a Chiron, you may as well order your RV with a Burmester surround-sound system that costs nearly ˆ300,000 (about $355,000). Volkner charges around ˆ2 for the Performance S, which represents approximately $2.3 million at the current conversion rate. Bugatti priced the Chiron at around $2.9 million, so the full package is worth over $5 million. Related video:

Bugatti Tourbillon Preview: 1,000-hp V16, 800-hp electric motors, gorgeous interior

LONG BEACH, Calif. — A few months ago, Bugatti invited us out to a studio in Long Beach, California, to get an early look at a prototype version of its latest creation, the Tourbillon. As the follow-up to two of the most iconic luxury-performance vehicles of the past two decades, the Tourbillon has some sizable shoes to fill, as both the Veyron and the Chiron were standard bearers of hypercar engineering during their respective eras. The high-performance landscape has also gone through some fairly dramatic changes in the time since. While the near-1,500 horsepower produced by the ChironÂ’s quad-turbocharged W16 was otherworldly in 2016, it seems notably less remarkable at a point in time when there are luxury sedans capable of producing more than 1,200 horsepower and the worldÂ’s quickest production vehicle offers nearly 2,000 hp. The paradigm shift brought on by high-performance EVs has not gone unnoticed by Bugatti, though. In 2022, the automaker formed a technical alliance with Rimac, the Croatian EV upstart that produces the world-beating Nevera. In its early stages, the partnership tasked Rimac with the development of an all-new powerplant for what would eventually become the Tourbillon, but the agreement soon evolved to effectively give Rimac founder and CEO Mate Rimac full control of the Bugatti brand through a 55/45 split with Porsche, BugattiÂ’s prior parent company. Bugatti Tourbillon action group View 7 Photos This, of course, begs a question: How do you follow up an automotive icon like the Chiron with something that feels equally unprecedented when your other company has upstaged that car with its own technology? As Bugatti design director Frank Heyl explained it, you focus less on the stats and more on the experience. “Yes, obviously it will be extremely fast. But I donÂ’t really like to talk about the numbers. ItÂ’s more about how you feel in the driverÂ’s seat, the sensations – the haptics of the switchgear, the smell of the leather, and the sounds and vibrations of the engine. ItÂ’s an emotional experience that canÂ’t really be expressed in numbers.”    That experience is driven in no small part by the TourbillonÂ’s jaw-dropping hybrid powertrain. At the front end of the Tourbillon, thereÂ’s a dual-motor and dual-inverter setup thatÂ’s good for 600 horsepower, along with a third electric motor in the rear that delivers an additional 200 hp of its own.