Bertone tries to return to car manufacturing with Mantide

Stile Bertone has been facing difficult times. Besides the family struggle to control the company, the financial situation was not at its best when the world crisis came upon. It seems the design studio and car manufacturer will try to get back into the right path with the help of Jason Castriota, the man behind the design of the beautiful Ferrari P4/5. It is a pity he was not that inspired this time.



Although many have though this car is a wonder, especially the ones that have had the chance to look at it live at the Shanghai Auto Show, it would not be a vehicle we would be willing to buy, even considering it can sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.2 s and reach a top speed of 351 km/h. Not even the fact that it is built over a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, what includes the fantastic LS9 engine, which pumps out 647 bhp. It will certainly be more expensive and does not look as good as the original. Nor better.

Bertone claims the car has been sculpted in windtunnels, but the results, which they claim to be fantastic, with a cx of 0.298, are far worse than the ones presented by many vehicles. Mercedes-Benz E-Classe Coupe, for example, is a mass-produced vehicle with a cx of 0.24, the best of the world nowadays. Even Opel Calibra, back in the 1990's, had a better mark to present: 0.29.

We just hope that, if this car ever reaches production lines, it may find enough people to buy it and keep Bertone alive. If it was up for us, even if we tried hard, we would not have any means to save the Italian design house, no matter how much we like it.















Source: World Car Fans