RE: ARES Performance: Bahar's next move

RE: ARES Performance: Bahar's next move

Friday 31st July 2015

ARES Performance: Bahar's next move

Dany Bahar is back in the UK with a 'bespoke atelier' for supercars - purists avert your eyes!



Former Lotus boss Dany Bahar has cut the ribbon on his latest automotive project - a super-exclusive 'bespoke atelier' in London's Mayfair. Modena-based ARES' first 'boutique store', the outlet on 77 Piccadilly will trade bespoke-tweaked premium cars plus, in an exclusive distribution agreement, STREIT Group's armoured vehicles.

"Do I need 21s or 22s on my Huracan?"
"Do I need 21s or 22s on my Huracan?"
ARES is Bahar's independent vision of the atelier idea he initially created at Ferrari - crafting uniquely-furnished cars costing upwards of £500,000. Not tied to one brand, it's a sweet shop of opportunities for those able to throw money at creating their very own concept car.

A new London supercar dealer opening just as supercars in London once again become A Thing? You've got to admit, Bahar's timing this time is spot on. And he knows it. "With so many of the world's wealthiest individuals favouring a summer in London, this is the perfect time and location for the first ARES boutique store."

The presumably-megabucks four-car showroom (which used to be an Infiniti dealer) opened its doors this week packed with a Lamborghini Huracan, Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz G-Class and an S-Class. That's only part of it though. The key bit is the atelier room out back; Bahar's idea is for dealer staff to help hone a set of upgrades where anything visual is possible (particularly if money is no object).

This bespoke spec will then be taken by the engineering base in Modena to handbuild a one-off. Nobody else is offering such a limitless atelier-style workshop for any brand of premium SUV, sports car or supercar, reckons Bahar.

That's quite a tie rack
That's quite a tie rack
"Our unique atelier approach is about immersing our clients in our world, our materials and processes, our vision and our ambition. There is no other automotive experience like it." Modifications mainly focus on the visual - ARES makes a point of not touching suspension, although it did recruit ex-Lotus engineering inspiration Wolf Zimmermann to head the engineering side. Think engine power tweaks and lightweighting.

You be the judge of whether it's a welcome return to the automotive industry for Bahar, but arguably it's a deserved one. His track record includes a stellar career at Red Bull and fast ascendancy at Ferrari, before tweaking the nose of Luca di Montezemolo then departing for Norfolk and chancing his luck at Lotus. It didn't work, but history will record what an amazing all-star opportunity it was (Swizz Beatz excepted). Just think what we'd be saying about Bahar today if the Lotus Esprit had launched and everything else had filtered through.

Indeed, given the cars he was looking to create, and what he knew from serving the ultra-demanding at Ferrari, maybe a Mayfair-based atelier for Lotus was part of his gameplan all along...











   
   
   
Author
Discussion

mr2j

Original Poster:

516 posts

157 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
Ar*e performance? Bahahahar indeed.

kambites

67,462 posts

220 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
Well I think he's found his level, so to speak. hehe

forzaminardi

2,281 posts

186 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
Premiumosity.

GranCab

2,902 posts

145 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
I hope the staff are multi-lingual ....

Сколько денег вы хотите потратить?

Πόσα χρήματα θέλετε να περάσετε;



كم من المال هل تريد أن تنفق؟

DonkeyApple

54,934 posts

168 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
kambites said:
Well I think he's found his level, so to speak. hehe
A shopkeeper in a red light district? Seems fitting for a ponce. biggrin

IMI A

9,410 posts

200 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
Quality of workmanship looks high to be fair but styling so ugly/vulgar

Fetchez la vache

5,568 posts

213 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
IMI A said:
Quality of workmanship looks high to be fair but styling so ugly/vulgar
Looks like he should have his target market sewn up then.

burningdinos

122 posts

120 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
What's with that S-class grille? looks like they retrofitted one straight out of an older Maybach model

TartanPaint

2,981 posts

138 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
Anything is possible? In that case, I'd like to buy a new Esprit please.

Output Flange

16,793 posts

210 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
77 Mayfair? You mean 77 Piccadilly.

Monty Python

4,812 posts

196 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
A fine example of turning a silk purse into a sow's ear.

IMI A

9,410 posts

200 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
Fetchez la vache said:
IMI A said:
Quality of workmanship looks high to be fair but styling so ugly/vulgar
Looks like he should have his target market sewn up then.
I do not believe even the Arabs or Russians would like what I've seen in the photos. Be interesting to see if it lasts. Have to hand it to Bahar though he seems to be persistent. Wish him the best of luck.

richardaucock

204 posts

162 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
Output Flange said:
77 Mayfair? You mean 77 Piccadilly.
Update filtering through - thanks!

The Infiniti dealer only opened in 2010... and wasn't it a Saab dealer before then?

4oClock

50 posts

177 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
mr2j said:
Ar*e performance? Bahahahar indeed.
you beat me to it!

Roma101

835 posts

146 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
Very few aftermarket styling tweaks by professional outfits like this improve the looks of a car IMO. In fact, in most cases I think they look worse than the standard car and cost a fortune. Can't say any of the pictures in this story changes my view. Still, someone must like it as there is clearly a market.

Harris_I

3,225 posts

258 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
It was amusing to read the sycophantic purple prose from Evo and others when Bahar joined Lotus. Any sane petrolhead could see Bahar was the Donald Trump of the car world.


larsson7

305 posts

141 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
I`m more interested in the first (main) picture, how the hell is a one legged person able to move so quickly?

Amirhussain

11,486 posts

162 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
GranCab said:
I hope the staff are multi-lingual ....

??????? ????? ?? ?????? ??????????

??sa ???µata ???ete ?a pe??sete;



?? ?? ????? ?? ???? ?? ?????
Lmao.

What's up with them exhausts on the Huracan?

richardaucock

204 posts

162 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
Props to Matt for his captions, too...

bigblock

772 posts

197 months

Friday 31st July 2015
quotequote all
Dear ARES

Please could you have your 'Ateliers' procure me a thoroughbred supercar and carry out the following 'enhancements'. Cover the factory paint job in some sticky back plastic and have the interior fitted out in whale foreskin leather, I will also need some gigantic shiny wheels.

I will be more than happy to pay at least three times the cost of the standard car and will be a able to collect it when I have recovered from surgery after having a penis grafted on to my forehead to help me stand out from the crowd.

Regards
Richard Head
(but please call me Dick)