BALOCCO, Italy — Stile Bertone rolled out its new Bertone Mantide here in Italy this week. The supercar, based on the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, made its home debut only two days after the model's unveiling at the 2009 Shanghai Auto Show.
The Mantide is not — as had been believed — a one-off or a client car, and speculation that it would be based on the Nissan GT-R also proved incorrect. It is a car that could sell up to 10 units. Reportedly there is vivid interest from wealthy Chinese customers.
"We chose the ZR1," Stile Bertone Design Director Jason Castriota told Inside Line, "partly because so many people have been beating up on General Motors for awhile now. They forget that the ZR1 has outpaced almost every supercar around the Nürburgring and is now a world-standard exotic."
Bertone, of course, has a long history of Chevy-based concept cars, stretching back to 1963 with the firm's Corvair Testudo and Iso Grifo Corvette, through to the 1984 Corvette Ramarro and 1990 Corvette Nivola concepts.
With the full carbon-fiber body produced by Belco Avia and engineered by Danisi in Italy based on the Castriota design, eventual vehicle dry weight is said to be 2,950 pounds. That should cut 0-60-mph time by about a tenth of a second from the 638-horsepower ZR1 chassis and promises a top speed closer to 220 mph. That's the anticipated result of 30 percent less aerodynamic downforce and a coefficient of drag that is now 0.298, versus the stock ZR1 body's 0.380.
The 20-inch, 1970s-futuristic-style wheels come from Dymag Racing in the U.K. Osram provides the full-LED space station lighting. An all-new quad-tip exhaust system by Capristo sounds decidedly right and should guarantee a few more horses at least.
The name Mantide, pronounced MAN-ti-deh, is Italian for Praying Mantis. That moniker is appropriate for the origami-insect look, especially the nose piece at the front splitter. The exterior is notable for flying buttresses at the upper sides, geometric forms with cleverly integrated aerodynamics and a long sweeping greenhouse. The interior is bathed in Alcantara and dominated by a pair of four-point-belted racing seats, which are surprisingly supremely comfy.
Bertone CEO Teresio Gigi Gaudio told IL that the company appreciated the rock-star treatment it saw in Shanghai, attributing some of the renewed "wow" factor at Stile Bertone to his luring of former Pininfarina star Castriota to the company.
In rock-star style, the company will now take the Mantide on a trip around the globe. The car is a U.S.-registered unit and will be viewable at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August, the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky in September and a collector show in New York City later in the fall.
Bertone has yet to announce pricing, but in the U.S. the Mantide could be expected to cost the equivalent of at least $500,000.
Inside Line says: A terrible beauty is born. — Matt Davis, Correspondent
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