Icona Vulcano, is a supercar designed by Icona, which is an Italian design house but based in Shanghai. It was built in Italy and will be showcased next April at the Shanghai Auto Show. Ferrari’s former powertrain technical director, Claudio Lombardi is the man behind this masterpiece. He is considered one of the best Italian motor engineers. He has in his kitty seven World Rally Championships, while racing director of Lancia, and then another very successful stint at Ferrari’s Formula One and GT cars division. The latest feather in his cap was the Superbike World Championship 2010, which he won with Max Biaggi by designing one of the strongest yet lightest engines ever developed in its category. For the last two years, he has been developing powertrain concepts that amalgamate combustion engines and electric motors through his company, AIPA.
The Vulcano uses combustion engine as well as electric motors to reach an amazing 900 horsepower, top speed of 350km/hour and an acceleration of 0-200 km/h in under ten seconds. The car has a front engine and can carry two people including the driver. Icona Vulcano is a beautiful follow up after the Icona Fuselage that was brought out in 2011 by Icona’s design director, Samuel Chuffart.
The company describes this car as the coming together of beauty and the beast. With a performance as good as one described above, and a gorgeous design to boot, we agree with their description. Samuel Chuffart brings a lot to the table as the design director. He has worked for eight years at Nissan Design’s Europe and US divisions and also at Jaguar-Land Rover. He joined Icona in 2008 and has helped develop several cars that are already in production and will be seen on the roads soon. With such experienced brains behind this car, I am not surprised at the incredible result.
