--- title: "Michael Jordan Is the Mystery Man Who Commissioned Pininfarina Battista Targa" description: "MJ's been collecting incredible cars since his prime days on the Chicago Bulls. This latest acquisition might be one of his most expensive." date: "2024-10-02" modified: "2024-10-02" authors: - name: "Andrew P. Collins" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/andrew-p-collins" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/michael-jordan-is-the-mystery-man-who-commissioned-pininfarina-battista-targa" categories: - "Culture" - "News" - "People" tags: - "Coupe" - "Electric Vehicle" - "luxury" --- # Michael Jordan Is the Mystery Man Who Commissioned Pininfarina Battista Targa ![Michael Jordan posed with his silver Pininfarina Battista.]() *\Automobili Pininfarina\* There was a minor mystery going around [Monterey Car Week]() this year: Who commissioned the one-of-one open-roof [Pininfarina Battista]()? Turns out it was Michael Jordan. Yes, the very same Michael Jordan from the 1994 Birmingham Barons outfield roster. You might remember him as a basketball player, too. Jokes aside, the immensely successful athlete's [love of elite sports cars]() has been [documented]() for decades. [That 1992 photo of MJ getting out of a Ferrari 512 TR]() at the NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals (shot by John Biever for *Sports Illustrated*) is one of my favorite automotive images of all time, and I don't even follow sports. Besides, [Jordan co-owns a racing team](), after all. The Battista is not as much of a household name as Air Jordan, but it is similarly elite. The electric hypercar claims 1,900 horsepower, a soul-stirring design, and a price tag of $2 million and up. Pininfarina has not disclosed how much MJ paid to get a singular Battista made with a targa-style roof, but the coachbuilder did just confirm that Jordan's now-delivered car is the only one of its kind. I wonder if the open roof was a requirement for somebody of Mr. Jordan's proportions to fit inside the car at all? At any rate, it looks great, and the combination of a silver-and-blue exterior with a tan interior is an extremely classy colorway for a supercar. It'd probably look ace on a sneaker, too. Few of us will ever be lucky enough to see a Battista, let alone drive one, so I'll leave you with a passage from our friend Kristen Lee who [got behind the wheel two years ago](): "Putting it in Furiosa mode—and thus activating full power—meant a synthesized and sort of pulsating hum/purr reverberated into the cabin. The Pininfarina engineer riding shotgun pointed out the speaker that sat between us as the sound’s source. This was the way the automaker has chosen to aurally articulate the sportiest mode. It was a curious noise, very bassy and low, and made the Verde Paradiso-painted Battista seem like a shimmering, slumbering green dragon. *Vrrrrr-RRRRR-rrrrr-RRRRR-rrrrr*. "But, then, when I floored it for the first time, I promptly frightened the shit out of myself." *Got a story tip? Email us at tips@thedrive.com* ## Author As Executive Editor, Andrew touches everything on the site from daily news coverage to feature stories, sponsored content, product reviews, road testing vehicles, ecommerce, and more. He's held pretty much every role there is to have at an automotive news site and has been with The Drive's publisher Recurrent since 2020. Andrew's a lifetime gearhead and longtime writer with a particularly strong penchant for road trips, off-road adventures, and archaic vehicles. His passions outside of the automotive world include skiing, obsolete video games, and his dog Bramble who occationally helps review cars. ### Author social links [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()