The Geneva Motor Show wouldn’t be the Geneva Motor Show if it didn’t have some new European automaker promising the world with a new hypercar. And this year it’s Corbellati’s turn.
Corbe-who-now, you ask? Corbellati. And no, we haven’t heard of them, either. But they’re shooting for the moon. Building upon a decades-old fine art and jewelry business, the family is now preparing to unveil the Corbellati Missile.
The design is highly evocative of classic mid-engined Italian sports cars like the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale and Ferrari 330 P4, with a low-slung and rounded form. But its spec sheet is the stuff of pure fantasy.
The parameters boast of a 9.0-liter twin-turbo V8, with an aluminum-alloy block, four valves per cylinder, a four overhead camshafts. It targets an output of 1,800 horsepower – all of it channeled to the rear wheels through a six-speed transaxle and (thankfully) a limited slip differential.
With that much power in a carbon-fiber chassis (and carbon-fiber bodywork), Corbellati wants the Missile to exceed 500 kilometers per hour – or more than 310 miles per hour. An adaptive suspension and carbon-ceramic brakes aim to keep it all in check.
That speed would be significantly faster than the Hennessey Venom GT and Koenigsegg Agera RS – cars that have been clocked at over 270 mph. Will Corbellati prove up to the task? We have our doubts, but finding out won’t be a simple matter.
There are only a handful of places in the world with uninterrupted, paved straights long enough to attempt such speeds. Bugatti has used the VW Group’s Ehra-Lessien test track. Hennessey took to the runway at the Kennedy Space Center. Koenigsegg closed down a highway in Nevada. Who knows where Corbellati will try to back up its claim, if it ever gets to that. Maybe Porsche will rent them some time at the Nardo Ring in southern Italy. But we’re probably getting way ahead of ourselves.
Article updated with live images of the car from Geneva