Ultra-limited $7.5m Pininfarina B95 electric roadster revealed

The Pininfarina B95 is a battery-powered Italian roadster that’s claimed to be the world’s first electric ‘hyper barchetta’ and it will be limited to just 10 units.

But even if it wasn’t a limited-production vehicle its absurd power output – 1416kW – and stratospheric price of $US4.8 million ($A7.49m) would guarantee its exclusivity.

Revealed during the high-brow 2023 Monterey Car Week in California on the weekend, the topless EV’s B95 name denotes the vehicle’s ‘barchetta’ body style (essentially a small sports car with no roof or windscreen) and the 95 marks the number of years Automobili Pininfarina has been in business.

The Mahindra-owned automotive design house’s first coachbuilt vehicle shares its powertrain with the $3.5m Pininfarina Battista, which is now available in Australia, with four electric motors fed by a huge 120kWh lithium-ion battery and delivering stratospheric total outputs of 1416kW/2300Nm.

There are no details on the car’s cruising range but Pininfarina says its top speed is “more than 300km/h” and its 0-96km/h (0-60mph) acceleration time is “less than 2 seconds”.

Whether it’s quick enough to out-pace the Rimac Nevera, which is regarded as the world’s quickest EV with a 0-60mph time of just 1.74sec and just set a new Nurburgring EV record, remains to be seen.

Either way, the silent Italian scorcher is very, very fast.

It’s also one of the first all-electric barchetta vehicles, following in the footsteps of roofless exotic road rockets like the Ferrari SP2, McLaren Elva, Aston Martin V12 Speedster and Mercedes McLaren SLR Stirling Moss.

Like those vehicles, the B95 usually requires drivers to wear a helmet and have the sort of neck muscles usually possessed by career race drivers.

That said, like the Elva, the B95 does feature a pair or aero ‘screens’ designed to create a bubble of calm around the vehicle’s two occupants, although at 300km/h we wonder how effective these will be?

“This patented new technology enables the thrill of open-top driving, yet in comfort even at the high speed that the B95 is capable of reaching,” said Andrea Crespi, Automobili Pininfarina’s chief technical officer.

The overall design on the hard-core windowless EV is sleek and sophisticated, with bold yellow-on-black exterior paint work. It rides on rather unexotic 20-inch front and 21-inch rear alloy wheels.

Inside, the vehicle features lots of tan leather upholstery below the belt line, while the top edges of the sports seats that are visible to other road users feature houndstooth patterning. Three digital screens wrap around the driver and most controls are located on the flat-bottom steering wheel.

There are also five drive modes: Calma, Pura, Energica, Furiosa, and Carattere. And if you’re wondering what the last one means, look it up and you’ll get an insight into how Italians prefer to design their sports cars.