The automotive world is in a relentless state of change. Electrification is the brand new norm, with most developments usually targeted on new EVs. However once in a while, a brand new undertaking pops up that fully disregards the norms … and what if it might have 18 cylinders? Even higher!
That’s precisely what the Berlinetta Veloce is all about. It’s a hyper-grand tourer idea by Italian producer Automobili Rodrigues – a comparatively unknown identify to the American auto business. It’s a boutique coachbuilder with roots within the Modena faculty of hammer-formed aluminum bodywork.
Its newest creation is the Berlinetta Veloce, a hypercar that comes with a 7.0-liter naturally aspirated V12 in its fundamental configuration. You need to step it up a notch? How a few mammoth 9.0-liter, 18-cylinder engine that the corporate calls the Triangolare 18? Knock your self out.
Automobili Rodrigues
The bottom-level V12 is F1-derived. It makes use of a dry sump configuration, producing effectively over 900 horsepower, revving all the best way as much as 10,200 RPM. Then there’s the Triangolare 18 configuration. The phrase “triangolare,” that means triangular in Italian, hints at its distinctive building.
This 9.0-liter engine fully does away with typical valvetrain parts and is constructed with pressured induction from each turbocharging and supercharging. The tip consequence? About 1,954 lb.ft (2,679 Nm) of peak torque. And in a world of dual-clutch gearboxes, how a few handbook? For all of the purists on the market, you may go for a handbook transmission in both of these engine choices.
Automobili Rodrigues
Visually, it carries a coach-built grand tourer profile with sculpted bodywork, prolonged proportions, a glossy roofline, and a tall hood. Automobili Rodrigues says that the Berlinetta Veloce fuses old-world craftsmanship with trendy dynamics. It additionally will get what it calls Subsequent-Gen Cloud Journey proactive suspension management, though in-depth specs are but to be revealed.
Coming to the cabin, you get customized Italian leather-based, open-pore woods, hand-brushed metallic, customized embroidery, controls milled from strong billets, and hand-knurled switches. Remember that the complete automotive, inside-out, is totally hand-built, with every automotive coming with a bespoke fee plate bearing the proprietor’s identify.
With manufacturing set to be extraordinarily restricted, Automobili Rodrigues’ hypercars normally vary between US$5 million and $10 million. I do not anticipate the Berlinetta Veloce to be any cheaper than that.
Automobili Rodrigues
However right here’s the factor: there’s one thing concerning the Berlinetta Veloce that feels much less like a automotive launch and extra like stumbling right into a fever dream at 3 am. The official materials leans arduous into old-world coachbuilding romance and ‘automotive artwork,’ however for all of the poetry, there’s a curious absence of grounding.
There’s no clear manufacturing historical past, no verifiable previous fashions in buyer palms, and imagery that appears suspiciously prefer it hasn’t but met the cruel, unfiltered actuality of asphalt and daylight. And that’s the place issues get… attention-grabbing.
As a result of when an organization you’ve by no means actually seen within the wild begins speaking about $10-million hyper GTs with experimental engines that will make Koenigsegg pause mid-sentence, it’s value pondering twice.
Automobili Rodrigues
Perhaps it’s all actual – a boutique coachbuilder quietly assembling an all-hammered aluminum, ‘artisan-crafted’ hypercar with a 9.0-liter, 18-cylinder, twin-charged, valveless motor. Or perhaps it’s automotive vaporware wrapped within the language of legacy and craftsmanship.
Personally, I’ll imagine it once I see it.
Supply: Automobili Rodrigues
