This striking-looking coupe is the Willys AW 380 Berlinetta, a limited-run sports car on display at the 2015 Bologna motor show. It’s the fruit of a collaboration between Italian company Maggiora and Turin-based design studio Viotti.
It looks like a cross between an Renault Alpine and a Karmann Ghia. What is it?
It’s actually a modern-day interpretation of a car called the Willys Interlagos, a version of the Renault Alpine A108 built under licence in Brazil in the ’60s by Willys-Overland – the same company responsible for that military Jeep.
The retro-tastic bodywork is the work of designer Emanuele Bomboi, and is wrought entirely from carbonfibre.
Is there a hint of Porsche there too?
The AW 380 is almost certainly built around a Porsche donor car.
It looks rather 911-esque in profile, and it’s powered by what’s doubtless a 911 Turbo engine (3.8 litres, twin turbochargers). However, the wheelbase and fuel tank size (2418mm and 64 litres respectively) match those of a first-gen Porsche Boxter, which tuners have proven can accommodate a 911 engine at a push…
Guessing this car can’t be cheap…
Your instincts are correct. Maggiora plans a production run of 110 cars priced at 380,000 Euros each, or £299,000. Production starts in Turin in January 2015, with first orders said to have come from customers based in Russia and the Emirates.
Willys AW 380 Berlinetta specs: engine, suspension, performance figures
Like every good Italian motor show concept car, performance figures are enthusiastically optimistic – top speed is claimed to be 211mph and 0-62mph in 2.7 seconds.
Mind you, with that 3.8-litre bi-turbo flat-six churning out a claimed 602bhp running through a six-speed paddle-shift transmission and a quoted kerb weight of 1350kg it’s hardly going to be slow. Given the body’s aerodynamic profile, it would take a brave driver to verify that top speed though.
Suspension layout is independent MacPherson struts at the front and a multi-link rear, connected to enormous wheels (19s at the front, 20s at the rear) wrapped in sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tyres. Big ceramic composite brakes handle the business of getting it stopped.
A 211mph recreation of a forgotten Brazilian sports car named after a Jeep. A completely irrelevant car but quite an interesting one, don’t you think?