After announcing the launch of the new 'Italdesign Automobili Speciali' brand, the Turin-based company has unveiled its first ultra-limited series production car.
Italdesign first began small series production in the Seventies with the BMW M1, and continued in the Eighties with the Aztec prototype and the Nineties with BMW Nazca and VW W12.
With only five units to be built by the end of 2017, the new V10-powered sports car is intended for collectors and ‘visionary enthusiasts’, combining racing car features and performance with type-approval for use on normal roads. The car was conceived, designed and built in Italy in the Italdesign factory in Moncalieri (Turin).
Developed around a modular chassis in carbon fibre and aluminium, this limited car is powered by a naturally aspirated 5.2 litre V10 engine which enables a 0-62mph time of 3.2 seconds, together with a top speed of over 205mph. The bodywork is finished entirely in carbon fibre.
Styling-wise, above the ‘tornado line’ are softer and smoother outlines in keeping with the Italian Gran Turismo tradition. The lower part is modelled for aerodynamics, to help achieve the performance figures Italdesign wanted.
From the offset the Styling Centre and the Engineering Department worked together to carry forward styling solutions and functional-feasibility checks until an ideal compromise was achieved that met design and performance requirements alike.
“The development of the one-off was based on the know-how achieved in the designing of hundreds of cars in our 49-years history – Italdesign Chief Technical Officer Antonio Casu, said. “To reach the timing target we applied the latest CAx and Simulation Technologies. Styling has been integrated since the very beginning with early engineering and production processes. All this allowed us to produce a state-of-the-art car in terms of performance and safety.”
The new Italdesign Automobili Speciali brand – set to make its debut at the 2017 Geneva International Motor Show – is to feature on all vehicles constructed in ultra low series production, aimed at a number of selected collectors. The logo itself has obtained the Patronage of the City of Turin.
Filippo Perini, Head of Innovation Design, stated: “When designing this new logo, we were inspired by the symbol of the City of Turin. In this city the history of [the] Italian automobile was born, the most famous and prestigious carmakers were born, as well as the ’coachbuilders‘ who made the Italian car design famous worldwide. Besides, it’s the city which hosted, from 1968 to 1974, the first Headquarters of Italdesign. With this logo therefore we wanted to celebrate the passion and the know-how that ideally unite Italdesign and Turin”.
”We stated in 2016 that we do have the competences in styling, development and production of street-legal ultra low series cars. Today, one year later, we are delivering the first running testimonial”, CEO Jörg Astalosch said. ”This part of our business has been now integrated into our existing service portfolio. This is styling, engineering, prototyping for small and high volume production vehicles, especially also as a turnkey competence."
This service was most recently deployed for the newly-launched Audi Q2 with Italdesign undertaking the assembly of more than seventy pre-production versions of the compact SUV.
Customers for the exclusive supercar will be able to personalise each car to suit thanks to Italdesign 'finishing' and 'performance' packages. The world launch of the car also signals a collaboration between Italdesign and Geneva watchmaker Roger Dubuis to create an exclusive example of the brand’s iconic Excalibur Spider wristwatch.