ATS Automobili has officially returned to the supercar club with the new GT. The car was revealed at Salon Prive earlier in in 2017 but now the drivetrain, performance and pricing information have been announced.
The ATS GT starts at $1.31m, ATS will only build 12 units, each specified to the taste of their respective owners. Inside, the supercar is filled with solid aluminium switchgear and bespoke Alcantara trim to help justify the jaw-dropping price tag.
Regardless of whether the GT is indeed based on McLaren components, performance should be brisk to say the least. Although it is still in the process of completing final specifications, ATS says the GT should be able to hit 100kph in around 3 seconds and will be capable of a top speed of over 322kph.
The GT is styled by Emanuele Bomboi, formerly of Fiat and later design director of Bertone, and ATS says it offers a ‘timeless yet striking design, evoking the brand’s past while reflecting its very contemporary performance’. Although it is hard to see the resemblance to the 1963 car, the new GT takes on many contemporary supercar design cues, including a low front scuttle and highlighted accent line running along the side of the glasshouse.
ATS Automobili itself has quite the interesting heritage. A by-product of turbulent times at Ferrari in the early 1960s, the brand was born when internal personal battles drove a sub-set of designers and engineers (including Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini) out from prancing horse’s stable. They eventually reformed themselves into ATS Automobili. Launched in 1963, the GT and motorsport biased GTS were the brand’s first cars. Both were technologically advanced for their time, but a commercial flop with only 12 produced in total between 1963 and 1965.
The engineering prowess brought to ATS by these former Ferrari innovators was evident in the original GT though. The car is able to claim the title of the first mid-engined Italian supercar – an honour usually thought to be associated with the Lamborghini Miura that appeared three years later.
This article originally appeared at evo.co.uk
