Ares may be a name familiar to longtime readers of the site, it's
come up before
. The automotive atelier has been
quietly creating bespoke versions
of super-luxury cars at its Modena base for the past few years now. With a mainly Middle-Eastern and Asian clientele, its Mayfair showroom sat empty - the window displaying a note claiming that "Stage 2 planed [sic] renovation" was underway - for quite some time. But if you thought you'd seen the last of Ares, think again.
Its return comes in the form of the X-Raid, a G-Class based SUV set to be produced at the company's new 18,000 sqm factory. It uses the same V8 engine as is standard in the G63 AMG, though Ares claims a power output of 760hp - surely a figure confused with the 760 Newton meters of torque the engine puts out; the same section of the website describes the car as "not for the feint [sic] of heart"...
What it certainly does feature is a completely restyled body, custom made from carbon fibre and aluminium, and apparently saving 200kg versus the standard car. Inside you'll find a custom sports steering wheel with "precious material inserts", nappa leather seats and an entirely redesigned cockpit too.
This isn't the first time Ares has announced a project along these lines of course, there are still a few dozen Land Rover Defenders out there somewhere awaiting a similar fate as the G-Class. In the meantime however, the guys and girls in Italy have been working on something else.
With Rolls-Royce ceasing production of the Phantom Coupe, Ares has helped one client fill the gap by creating a one-off, two door Bentley Mulsanne. Going forward Bahar reckons that projects like this - at an eye-watering cost of £630,000 - £720,000 a pop - will make up half the business; Ares able to profit whilst still undercutting the much higher prices and waiting times OEMs will quote for
likeminded custom builds
The finished articles may not be to everyone's taste, but the main frustration with Ares is that its setup ought to be a highly promising one. Lotus unpleasantness aside, Bahar masterminded the launch of Ferrari's Special Projects Division, and his management team now boasts Andrea Galletti, once director of R&D at Pagani, and the highly respected Francesco Ugozzoni, former chief mechanic of Ferrari's F1 team.
Somehow though, it remains hard to take seriously. We look forward to being proven wrong, but we won't be holding our breath.