New Chinese Supercar to be shown at Pebble: The question is; what will Ferrari say?
I have seen the future. And it’s still a long way off.
But maybe it’s coming closer. I am talking the very real possibility of Chinese supercars being launched into the market. A new firm called Icona Shanghai will be showing the Vulcano supercar at Pebble Beach, though they say it’s only a one-off supercar. When they showed the car in 2013 they said it was equipped with a 950 hp hybrid drivetrain based on a V12 engine and capable of sprinting from 0 to 200 km/h in less than ten seconds.
Styling-wise it strikes me as almost a line-for-line copy of a Ferrari F12.
In 2013 they were claiming the top speed will be around 350 km/h, and the 0-200 km/h ET will be well under ten seconds. They credit the powertrain design as being the work of Claudio Lombardi, who they say is former powertrain technical director of Ferrari and mastermind of numerous world champion cars.
Wikipedia says”Lombardi studied mechanical engineering at the University of Bologna.
He was soon recruited by the Fiat research center, before designing engines for Lancia, which helped them in the World Rally Championship and in sports car racing. Lombardi became head of department for engineering at Lancia in 1989 when Cesare Fiorio moved to Ferrari. Fiorio invited Lombardi to join him at Ferrari but left the company in 1991.
Lombardi was subsequently promoted from engineer to team-manager. In 1993 he was responsible for designing the Ferrari 12 cylinder engine.” In other words, Lombardi is a heavy-hitter who knows what he is doing, but I’ll feel better about the car’s provenance when they release the resumes of the chassis designer and body designer.
The Vulcano to be shown at Pebble has a more attainable Corvette engine, which brings to mind the old formula for Iso of Bresso—Italian coachwork wrapped around an easily serviceable American Corvette engine.
The newest press release does not mention electric motors, but originally they were talking a rear wheel drive V12 associated to an advanced gearbox that includes a hybrid system with an electric motor.
The manufacturer also discussed the idea of a four wheel drive alternative: a twin turbo V6 engine coupled with two electric motors for front traction will deliver a total power of 870 HP and said that they tested at San Marino with a Lancia 037 (Ex World Champion Rally) car transformed by Beppe Volta into a 4WD hybrid. Made by ACTUA together with Italtecnica, the Lancia 037 4WD-H beat its previous record in every way.
The wheels are made of T6-6061 aerospace grade forged aluminum, and are 20 x 10” in the front and 21 x 12.5” in the rear and mated to Pirelli P Zero ultra high performance tires, with a 355mm section in the rear and 285mm section in the front. The braking system has been supplied by Brembo and feature lightweight carbon ceramic discs of 380mm. The new car to be shown at Pebble has a lot of titanium and a lot of carbon fiber in the body, yet still tips the scales at around 3,500 plus pounds!
Reportedly the car is only intended to show off the talents of the Italian part of the operation– maybe they will make something else besides cars. But the idea of an Italian-designed car with Corvette power could be as tempting as the Iso was back in the ‘60’s and early ‘70’s.
And we have all seen what happened to the value of Grifos (I bought a used one for $14,000 in the ‘80s and now they are cresting $400,000. Alas I sold mine back then for a measly $1,000 profit)
I think with Chinese labor costs, they could bring a Corvette-powered model here for the price of the current top of the line Corvette ad you would have a car with Ferrari-like styling, Ferrari-like performance, a car both bodied and styled in Italy. I just wonder what Ferrari will say about the styling?
Does Ferrari (or Pininfarina, formerly their no. 1 design consultant firm) copyright design shapes? I assure you that your humble scribe will have his ear to the ground at Pebble….
By Wallace Wyss
From Pebble Beach
THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss, a fine artist and historian, will be manning his ART & BOOKS booth at Concorso Italiano in Seaside on Saturday of Monterey Car week.