Skip to main content

Batman’s ride: Pininfarina unveils the B95 Gotham at Monterey Car Week

A one-off ride for Batman's alter-ego

Pininfarina B95 Gotham built for Bruce Wayne, with Batman's Tumbler in the background.
Pininfarina / Pininfarina

It appears that billionaire entrepreneur Bruce Wayne may have sold his Dark Knight and Gotham cars to make way for the B95 Gotham, a one-of-one model Automobili Pininfarina will debut on August 16 at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering during Monterey Car Week.

Just kidding about the Batman connection, at least as the real buyer. This is Bruce Wayne’s new car, created by Pininfarina and Relevance International in collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products (WBDGCP) for the Wayne Experience. The WBDGCP licenses Warner Brothers brands to toy, fashion, home decor, and publishing programs.

The B95 is a real car, not a mockup. The car at The Quail will not be for sale, but Pininfarina is building four different Batman-themed B95 examples based on the 1900-hp all-electric Pininfarina Battista. The Battista is a limited edition hypercar, and only 150 will be produced, including the four Batman variants.

Why make a car for Batman?

Pininfarina B95 Gotham built for Warner Brothers to celebrate the Batman character's 85th anniversary, left profile view.
The Warner Brothers Discovery collaboration with Pininfarina is in observance of the 85th anniversary of the Batman superhero franchise.  Pininfarina did not create Batman’s Tumbler, a paramilitary-style vehicle featured in The Dark Knight Trilogy. However, the B95 Gotham was conceived as the appropriate ride for Batman’s alter ego, Bruce Wayne.

The real-world performance of the B95

Pininfarina B95 Gotham built for Warner Brothers to celebrate the Batman character's 85th anniversary, interior view.
Batman is awesome, but the Battista is also impressive, even without the  Bruce Wayne logos. The most potent car ever produced in Italy, the Battista is faster than an F1 race car. A 120 kWh battery powers four electric motors, one for each wheel, with a total of 1,900 horsepower and 1,728 lb-ft of torque. The Battista accelerates from 0 to 100 km (62.2 mph) in under two seconds.

The Battista has a maximum range of 300 miles on a fully charged battery, although that range is calculated using the European standard WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light-Duty Test Procedure) system, which is more optimistic than EPA ratings. The average difference is about 11%, so based on that rough comparison, a fully charged Battista could travel up to 269 miles per charge under the best conditions.

Pininfarina B95 Gotham built for Warner Brothers to celebrate the Batman character's 85th anniversary, left rear three-quarter view.
Pininfarina / Pininfarina
Bruce Brown
A Digital Trends Contributing Editor and Contributor for TheManual.com, Bruce Brown writes e-mobility reviews and covers…
More than just the cars, Bugatti expands after-sales customer service
Bugatti is undergoing major expansion of worldwide after-sales service .
Bugatti Chiron and Veyron comprise the majority of Bugattis on the road now.

Bugatti announced a major expansion and enhancements for after-sales customer service.  Bugatti's recent Tourbillon launch, which followed soon after the Bolide and W16 Mistral began production, underscored the need to address improving Bugatti's customer experience after taking delivery of a car.

A new Bugatti customer service team is focused on providing new levels of customer experience with the expanding Bugatti road-going fleet. But another way, there are going to be more Bugattis on the road so service needs to expand. With Bugatti, a company obsessed with perfection in everything it does, the challenge isn't just adding more of what currently exists.
Why is Bugatti expanding after-sales service

Read more
Bugatti YouTube docuseries A New Era: Concept and Vision, creating the next generation Bugatti hypercar
What does it take to conceive automotive perfection?
Mate Rimac, Bugatti Rimac CEO holding a model he used to get the go-ahead for his vision of a new hypercar.

There are only a few days until June 20, when Bugatti promises to unveil its next limited-edition hypercar. Two days before the big reveal, Bugatti announced a YouTube docuseries covering the process of creating the new model. Bugatti rarely introduces new cars and has been dropping information about the new model since the Chiron, the previous hypercar, ended its production.

Shortly after Bugatti heralded that L'Ultime, the last Chiron Super Sport, had left the factory, the iconic French luxury and performance carmaker began teasing its next, as yet unnamed, hypercar creation. L'Ultime was the 5ooth car of the limited edition that debuted in 2016, and because Bugatti hand assembles all of its cars and controls who will buy them, the famed auto firm wasn't surprised by the end of the run. We can surmise that the design and engineering started on the next car at least a year or more ago.

Read more
Bruce Wayne is selling Dark Knight and Gotham Pininfarina hypercars
Bruce Wayne's spirit and four hypercars inhabit a Manhattan townhome
Battista Dark Knight with bat doors open with bats in the background.

Battista Dark Knight with bat doors open with bats in the background. Automobili Pininfarina / Automobili Pininfarina

If you're a Batman fan or looking for a special gift for a Batman fan, how about a one-of-a-kind hypercar created by Automobili Pininfarina and sold by -- wink, wink -- Bruce Wayne Enterprises? The are four cars, but each is a one-off based on current Pininfarina hypercars, the Battista and Barchetta.

Read more