Remember the Jannarelly? Designed as a homage to the classic 60s' sports cars and with Nissan V6 power, the Design-1 was well received - not least by us. 'More visceral than a Jaguar or Porsche but less compromised than a Caterham or Atom, Jannarelly seems to have located a sparsely populated niche in an otherwise saturated market' concluded the PH first drive. In fact, the first Jannarelly was sufficiently popular that a new car - the Design-2 - is apparently now in the works. And Jannarelly is enlisting some help, too, today announcing a strategic partnership with Manifattura Automobili Torino - or M.A.T.
If the name doesn't sound familiar, M.A.T is perhaps best known for its involvement in bringing the new Stratos into the world. It also played a key part in the development of the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG003, so it has some credentials. M.A.T was founded and is headed up by Paolo Garella, a former boss of Pininfarina's special projects division.
So, what's the plan? First off, and most notably, M.A.T will assume control of Design-1 production at its facility in Turin (up until now it was being built at Jannarelly's Dubai base). Alongside completion of the 499-unit production run, M.A.T and Jannarelly will then work together on the Design-2 GT coupe. There's not much forthcoming on that car just yet, apart from the fact that it will mark Jannarelly's "entry into the rapidly growing 'restomod' market." All guesses welcome on that one. That's in addition to a broader plan, with a business development team apparently set to bring together expertise in LA, Turin and Dubai "to capitalise on new opportunities, including in vehicle electrification."
Co-founder of Jannarelly Automotive, Anthony Jannarelly, said of the tie-up: "We founded the company in our small workshop in Dubai just five years ago. To have the opportunity now to build our cars in Torino with M.A.T. is a definitive milestone for our young company. This new collaboration represents a unique opportunity to combine and magnify our respective strengths to build some truly unique sports cars." To which Paolo Garella added: "We were deeply impressed by the Jannarelly team and their wonderful Design-1 roadster... We look forward to starting production of Jannarelly's Design-1 and are very excited to be developing new products with them, such as their GT coupe, the Design-2." Given the rapid progress made already by both companies - M.A.T was only established in 2014, Jannarelly two years later - don't expect any hanging around on the new car. If it can bring together the best bits of what two young companies have produced thus far, the Design-2 promises to be very exciting indeed.
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