italdesign quaranta

at one point in my life i fancied i might become an automobile designer. at that time, the most interesting designers came from italy and among that select group, the hottest of them all was giorgetto giugiaro. founder of design house ital design, giugiaro led the pack of designers who had discovered the wonders of the ruler and took (among many others) companies like volkswagen and lotus into the future with his scirrocco and esprit proposals both of which remain iconic in their own right as solving the problem of providing stylish, cutting edge transportation for two with the practicalities of containing the necessary machinery and meeting the requirements of the regulatory bodies to move the vehicles along public roads.

vehicles like this 1974 maserati 2+2 coupe
caught my attention, simply because they were so unlike anything else being penned and especially because there was almost nothing on the road that even came close.

more recent efforts don’t carry the same eye-catching quality in my view, and this may be a reflection of italdesign becoming a more general purpose design house. having said that, some recent designs that do carry promise include the oddly named “nessie” concept, and the alfa romeo brera,
both designs suggest a more sensual approach to design with much cleaner flow through the exterior as well as a more integrated feel to the various elements.

this brings me to italdesign’s latest effort the “quaranta”. with obvious design referents to the bizzarini manta coupe released in 1968-1969, :

the quaranta, while clearly fitting into the door-wedge design school of the late sixties to late seventies, does integrate the compound curve styling so prevalent now. making it at once retro and progressive. also of interest to me is that it makes more than a bit of a nod to the green ethos of 2008. tucked away somewhere inside its angular body, the quaranta houses a mid-mounted hybrid powertrain supplied by toyota. italdesign claims that the drivetrain produces a combined 268 horsepower and 212 pound feet of torque, which they say is good for a 4.05 second run to 62 mph. at the same time, its fuel tanks, (which are integrated into the frame) can hold nearly 16 gallons of fuel, good for a 621-mile range. the entire opaque roof is comprised of solar panels, which run the interior electronics and charge the batteries.

the driver has the option of two- or all-wheel-drive depending on the conditions, and can also raise its ride height up to a maximum of 9.17 inches. the cockpit of the quaranta has a 1+3 seating arrangement that places the driver front and center, with two more seats on either side.
for more detailed information, you might want to read italdesign’s press release.

here’s a more comprehensive photo gallery . here’s a gallery of downloadable images of the quaranta.

if you are interested in viewing the historical output of this extraordinary coach house then you might be happy to know that italdesign have very generously provided a searchable database of all their designs over the last 35 years - automobiles being just one element of their portfolio.