We make the rules that frustrate achievement," Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his bestseller Outliers, and elements of that mindset may have come into play when judges evaluated the 1,900 hp Pininfarina Battista hypercar, the undisputed outlier of the COTY field in terms of power, price, and—with only 150 examples to be built—exclusivity. The overwhelming perception of the judges was that it belonged on a pedestal but not the podium, it being an unfair example of automotive exotica among the rest of the competition—a similar situation, as one evaluator noted, to Michael Jordan’s losing the MVP award to Charles Barkley in the 1992-93 NBA season. The Robb Report editorial team, on the other hand, had no such qualms, and the Battista easily (and unanimously) earned our pick for the 2025 Car of the Year. “Sometimes we can overthink excellence," said automotive editor Viju Mathew. “The Battista delivers unrelenting acceleration paired with exquisite handling. Not just for a 5,247-pound EV, but for anything on four wheels—a benchmark impossible for me to bypass."
Still, there were judges who disagreed. Donald Branning dismissed the Battista as a “Tesla Plaid on steroids, but $2.6 million more," while James Wilson Jr. lamented that the “steering feeling is numb, as with most electrics," adding that it had “minimal road feel." Franklin Zhao said that the “interior lacks the ‘wow’ factor you expect at this price level, and the lack of engine-note feedback still takes away from the driver engagement."
Yet the general consensus fell more in line with that of Bradford Crutchfield, who called it the “perfect car" with “every detail perfectly executed." Brian Schwalbe described it as “an amazing combination of beauty and technology that pins your eyeballs to the back of your head." As with many of the judges, James Hefelfinger decided that “the car is in a class by itself," viewing the opportunity to pilot a model of its ilk as “a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
Motors: Four electric with a 120 kWh battery pack
Power: 1,900 hp
Range: 300 miles
0-60 MPH: 1.8 sec
Top Speed: 217 mph
Base Price: Approx. $2.4 million
As Tested: $2.82 million
From the article by Viju Mathew and Robert Ross
