Wednesday 4th August 2010

New Lancia Stratos Spied In Italy

One-off or all-new sports car hero from Lancia?

---

These two enigmatic shots of a Lancia Stratos-esque car have filtered out onto the web. Originally broken by Italian car blog Italiaspeed, the shots were taken back in June at Alfa Romeo's Balocco test track in Italy. But exactly what it is, nobody seems quite sure.

Rally fans, Lancisti and those with good memories may remember the Fenomenon Stratos concept from the 2005 Geneva motor show (bottom right), and this seems to be the best bet for the original source of the new car, although the nose appears to have been mildly redesigned.

Chris Hrabelek, the man behind the Fenomenon Stratos, still owns the rights to the name, but as far as we can make out the project is a one-off for a wealthy enthusiast, rather than a revival of the original series production plans for the Fenomenon car.

As for the drivetrain and chassis, the situation is as clear as the fuzzy spy shots. The general consensus seems to be that the Stratos will use a Ferrari V8 and a chopped-down Ferrari chassis, though whether these will come from a 360 Challenge Stradale, an F430 or even an F430 Challenge racer is unclear.

An F430 basis seems most sensible, but even though the use of the Balocco facility means the project has Fiat Auto's implicit approval, it's unlikely that neither Fiat, Ferrari nor Lancia will have anything more than a tangential involvement with the project.

On the other hand, these could just be the first images of an Alfa 8C-style halo car for Lancia. Here's hoping...

[benjalex]

Looks FANTASTIC! It'll never be a production car though :-(

[Stig]

benjalex said:

Looks FANTASTIC! It'll never be a production car though :-(

"but as far as we can make out the project is a one-off for a wealthy enthusiast, rather than a revival of the original series production plans for the Fenomenon car."

Indeed.

[Justayellowbadge]

Oh my.

[DJC]

• giggle*

Oh yes.

[Davi]

Have to say I'm not overly keen on those shots - don't like the front end, looks too spoon like.

[TonyHetherington]

Must admit, I don't agree that it looks fantastic. It's proportions are very wrong. However, it is as cool as a polar bear's nut sack.

[Alfa numeric]

Looks good!

Whatever happened to the Fenominon? Was it a victim of more austere times?

[peteA]

Liking it...

[TU Tuning]

It looks stunning. Much better than the concept, lost the shape and cues almost entirely there. Heres hoping . Until then, at least we have the Delta;

.

Edited by TU Tuning on Wednesday 4th August 12:17

[anonymous-user]

We may have to settle for this for the time being! An Abarth Roadster based on the KTM X-bow with a 1750 multiair engine with around 200bhp! Sounds promising!

Edited by Justayellowbadge on Wednesday 4th August 12:26

[mat205125]

I really like the way that it has moved on (or backward?) from the concept design by using conventional doors, and the comedy angles that the windows drop down from the original car.

[caz4213]

If you think of it as the BMW mini is to the original Mini and new 500 to old 500 etc. then it makes sense, managing to look similar to the old stratos while looking modern. I really like it.

[Bollah]

Couple of other photo's on THIS blog

[Justayellowbadge]

From Bollah's link:

Edited by Justayellowbadge on Wednesday 4th August 13:16

[mat205125]

^

[rhinochopig]

Look at the wheel base - it'll be twitchier than a jack rabbit with his nuts caught on an electric fence.

[Justayellowbadge]

rhinochopig said:

Look at the wheel base - it'll be twitchier than a jack rabbit with his nuts caught on an electric fence.

It's supposed to be.

Means it's bloody awesome on a forest stage though.

[Cacatous]

Justayellowbadge said:

I just did a sex wee

[Gad-Westy]

rhinochopig said:

Look at the wheel base - it'll be twitchier than a jack rabbit with his nuts caught on an electric fence.

Very much paint homage to the original then!

Shame the central windscreen pillar has gone. Suspect practicality and legal issues are to blame.

[DS240]

Brilliant, make it a production model.

Ferrari underpinnings, would make it pretty expensive though.

Lik the link, using Ferrari underpinnings. Shares some common ground with the original.

I think it is a good update of the design.