Here's How Ferrari Killed The New Lancia Stratos
In 2010 the world almost got a Ferrari based Lancia Stratos recreation.
In 2010 a wealthy car lover and entrepreneur named Michael Stoschek unveiled his intrepretation of a modernized Lancia Stratos at Paul Ricard Circuit proclaiming "The Legend Returns". The new Stratos was the result of 4 long years of design with Pininfarina and one cut up Ferrari F430. Although the new Stratos had a line of customers and a great design, the project never took off all thanks to Ferrari.
The website is all the remains of ones mans dream to recreate an icon. Let us never forget.
The original Lancia Stratos was a Ferrari powered rally legend hand built by Bertone in Italy during the 1970s. The Stratos was very successful in the world rally stage and gained a cult following thanks to its radical design and unique driving experience.
In a effort to capture the essesence of the original Stratos, Micheal Stoschek took a Ferrari F430 donor car and shortened the wheel base by 20cm. The shorter chassis helped the new Stratos achieve its goal of being light and agile like the original Stratos.
The New Stratos was an impressive performer with a 0-60 time of only 3.3 seconds thanks to it's quick shifting 6-speed sequential gearbox. Power came from the same V8 found in the Ferrari F430 donor producing and impressive 540 horsepower at 8,200 RPM.
The shorter wheel base meant the New Stratos was not only lighter than a F430 but also more agile separating the two Italian sports cars. The New Stratos boasted a curb weight of only 1247 kg or 2749.164 lbs for us Americans. Even Ferrari President, Luca di Montezemolo, praised the design after driving the first example of the New Stratos.
Even though the future looked bright for the New Stratos one major road block destroyed the whole project, Ferrari. A quote from the New Stratos company explains their predicament, "Pininfarina, however, has advised us that they will only carry out construction of a limited run with the express permission of Ferrari. Despite Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo's excellent assessment of the New Stratos after his test drive at Fiorano, Ferrari does not consent to construction of the planned limited run by either Pininfarina or any other Ferrari-dependent suppliers."
A statement of the website lays out the final nails in the projects coffin, "We regret to inform the many New Stratos fans worldwide – in addition to the approximately 50 individuals interested in acquiring a version of the vehicle – that the planned limited run will not come to fruition. This decision stems from Ferrari CEO Dr. Amedeo Felisa’s opposition to the production of any further vehicles by companies that work with Ferrari. As readers of this are no doubt aware, the body of the New Stratos is built on a shortened Ferrari 360 or 430 chassis – meaning it presents absolutely no competition to the current 458."
Since the New Stratos was cut off from the suppliers they need to build their car, the company was only ever able to build one example. After that, the dream was dead and all that remains is one working example and an abandoned website reminding us of what could have been. Never forget that we don't have a New Stratos to dream of and it's all Ferrari's fault.
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Comments (35)
Walk straight up to Lambourghini and ask "Fancy pissing your opposition off?"
My thoughts exactly, but I guess they didn't have the money to redesign the car on a whole new platform. Hopefully designers who come up with awesome cars like this learn from this and start of with something else for a base than a Ferrari.
Yeah that’s a clever move
Ferrari being Ferrari, when did they become such a large collection of asshats?
Imagine how much that single example will be worth should it ever go up for auction!
Just one more reason I don't like Ferrari, the company at least. The cars are beautiful though. They just don't seem to want to let anyone have any fun
They just knew it was better than the 430 so they shut it down
That's what people said about Pagani, just because it is not brand name doesn't make it bad.
This is incredibly sad. I remember seeing it on a Top Gear calendar poster for the first time and I loved the new design. Gorgeous car.