Joining the celebrations for Alfa Romeo's centenary, Stile Bertone will pop the covers off a new concept model at next month's Geneva Salon. The Italian design house, which was recently left independent after the Fiat Group acquired the firm's manufacturing facilities, released a shady teaser sketch of the Alfa Romeo concept that is rumored (but not confirmed) to be based on the 8c Competizione model. Along with Stile Bertone, Italy's Pininfarina and Italdesign will also celebrate Alfa Romeo's 100th anniversary with the presentation of two separate concept vehicles at the Geneva Motor Show.
Many may find the Bertone Mantide's design controversial, to say the least, but there's no doubt that every rare supercar has its place in the world of automotive collectors. So it comes to no surprise that according to Bertone's chief designer and the man at fault responsible for the Mantide's styling, Jason Castriota, the Italian firm could produce as many as 10 units of the Corvette ZR1-based sportscar.
"The project has an anonymous benefactor, but it is in fact for sale either as a singular example, or with the possibility of building an extremely limited series," Castriota told the NY Times in an e-mail message. "At the moment there is considerable interest around the world as we have been contacted by potential clients in Asia, Europe and America," he added.
Despite its relatively humble underpinnings - humble in the sense that a Corvette ZR1 will set you back a 'mere' $104,920 or about €79,000, the Mantide's price will hover close to a staggering $2,000,000 or around €1,500,000. Like it or not, we have no doubt that there's a handful of people out there who will be more than willing to pay such a high price to own a supercar like the Mantide.
We've pretty much summed up our feelings about John Castriota's Corvette ZR1-based Bertone Mantide in our previous post here, so we're not going to get into the design discussion again. Just hit the jump to watch to watch the coupe's presentation from the Shanghai Auto Show earlier this month, and don't forget to lower the volume of your speakers because you're probably going to get as annoyed as we did the music background.
Nope, as much as some of our readers may disagree with us, these live photos of the Corvette ZR1-based Bertone Mantide still don't do the trick. We continue to believe that the Mantide's appearance and especially the car's front-end styling, looks like it was the work of some haphazard Chinese automaker and not from a famed design house like Bertone. At some point the vehicle's cat-lipped buttocks could grow on us, but don't expect that to happen any time soon. Read more about the Mantide here.
Don't you just love the media's double standards? If its Chinese, it's junk, if its Western European or American it's a masterpiece. Excuse me, but the first thing that came to mind upon seeing Jason Castriota's Corvette ZR1-based Bertone Mantide Concept was 'hey, this thing looks like it came straight out of the design studio of some random and gawkily named Chinese automaker'. Sure it captures your attention as any concept sportscar would do, but this ain't no Italian beauty... Those that disagree with us may -and should- leave their thoughts in the comment section below.
Even though we may not find its design alluring -at least in the classic Italian sense, compared to the Corvette ZR1 donor car, drag has been reduced by 25% to Cd 0.298 while there's also a 30% improvement in down force.
Bertone claims that the Mantide also promises greater performance than the ZR1, due to significant weight savings, achieved through the extensive use of carbon fibre for all body panels, interior trim, seats and even the wheels. The result is that the overall vehicle weight has been reduced by 100 kilos or 220 pounds over the ZR1.
Equipped with the Corvette ZR1's 640Hp supercharged V8, the Mantide sprints from 0 to 62mph (100km/h) in 3.2 seconds and has a top speed of 351km/h (217mph).
The Mantide made its global debut at the Shanghai Auto Show.
Italian car styling and coachbuilding house Bertone has released a sketch previewing a new Alfa Romeo sports coupe concept based on the Alfa 8c Competizione platform and mechanics. The concept revives the stunning Alfa Romeo B.A.T. (Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica or aerodynamic technical Berlinetta in plain English) prototypes that Bertone produced back in the 50’s (BAT 5 in 1953, BAT 7 in 1954, and BAT 9 in 1955). -Continued after the jump
Now for the bad news; according to a report from Automotive News, the struggling Bertone Group which is currently undergoing a deep industrial restructuring had initially announced via its Vice-Chairman Marie-Jeanne Bertone that the concept would be unveiled at the Geneva Show in March. However, a contradicting press release from Stile Bertone Chairman Lilli Bertone, Marie-Jeanne's mother stated that the Bertone group would skip the show. Take your pick…
The guys over at WindingRoad have discovered this, still unnamed prototype of a Fiat Panda 100Hp based roadster done by Italian design house, Bertone. I’m not so sure about the Panda platform but as for looks, this 2seater Italian roadster will definitely grab the attention of the Geneva crowd with its stylish aluminum body and distinctive clear door panel inserts. We remind you that Bertone has already previewed another Fiat (Grande Punto) based cabrio, the Suagna concept which featured an electric folding hardtop. Via: WindingRoad
The guys over at WindingRoad have discovered this, still unnamed prototype of a Fiat Panda 100Hp based roadster done by Italian design house, Bertone. I’m not so sure about the Panda platform but as for looks, this 2seater Italian roadster will definitely grab the attention of the Geneva crowd with its stylish aluminum body and distinctive clear door panel inserts. We remind you that Bertone has already previewed another Fiat (Grande Punto) based cabrio, the Suagna concept which featured an electric folding hardtop. Via: WindingRoad
Joining the celebrations for Alfa Romeo's centenary, Stile Bertone will pop the covers off a new concept model at next month's Geneva Salon. The Italian design house, which was recently left independent after the Fiat Group acquired the firm's manufacturing facilities, released a shady teaser sketch of the Alfa Romeo concept that is rumored (but not confirmed) to be based on the 8c Competizione model.
