Touring Superleggera is an Italian coachbuilder with a legacy stretching back decades, its best-known creation arguably the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante C52 of 1952. Which was then updated, quite famously, with the 8C-based Disco Volantes of 2012. And who can forget the Mini Superleggera? Touring is known for voluptuous, daring designs, put simply, so this new Aero 3 is very much a chip off the shapely, coach-built old block.
Said to be inspired by Touring's mid-20th century heyday, the Aero 3 "typifies the canons of Touring aerodynamic style, with flowing lines that highlight the cleanliness of the surfaces and smooth integration of the volumes into a unified whole." Which is coachbuilder talk for what happens if you give a bunch of designers with a lot of time on their hands a Ferrari f12 - in case you hadn't guessed - and carte blanche to doodle as they see fit. The Aero 3 is the result, and 15 are going to be made.
Given it stands out about as much as a mohawk on a priest, the rear fin is best discussed first. Despite mimicking those seen on contemporary racing cars and harking back to Touring's 'wind profile' studies, it actually serves no aerodynamic purpose whatsoever. Or, in coachbuilder speak, it ensures personality is not so much trapped in a formal design language that cannot be violated, but dedicated to reaching a pleasing rapport of visual weights and purity of line, regardless of where design inspiration leads. The colour, much more simply, is Stratosphere Red.
As for the rest of the Aero 3 design, Touring is at pains to stress that the rebodying process is much more thorough nowadays; no more Italian craftsmen whacking sheet aluminium into place with their good hammer. CFD was used to ensure airflow would work around the fin and the contours created by the CAD-influenced carbon body panels. Despite a tiny production volume, Touring will use a bill of materials and a routing document, as in mass production, for the Aero 3; this ensures that the build process is documented and reproducible for consistent quality. Useful given 5,000 hours goes into each one...
The Aero 3's interior is characterised by Foglizzo leather, carbon details and aluminium that's both black matte and polished. As with everything else, the important bits are from the Ferrari, and therefore the driving environment will be familiar to those who are familiar with an f12. Although presumably the range of customisation possibilities is even greater in this instance.
Which is why a price for the Aero 3 hasn't yet been confirmed; a figure can be provided on request, but Touring says the number "may vary accordingly" since "each car can be trimmed and fitted to the buyer's individual preferences." Apparently it takes six months to turn f12 donor car into Aero 3, with a two-year warranty thrown in for good measure. Touring's General Manager Salvatore Stranci says the new car is a "demonstration of our resilience as an organisation, our perseverance and desire to succeed." And he says that three are gone already - best get at the front of the line when Salon Prive opens, then...
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