The 700bhp ATS GT Is Here To Relaunch A Forgotten Italian Brand

The mid-engined GT is the first car to be produced by Italian brand ATS since the mid-1960s

01 Sep 2017

Is a McLaren 720S too mainstream for you? Fancy something from an obscure Italian brand that hasn’t produced a car in decades? Step right this way.

It’s the ATS GT (yep, the second new supercar we’ve written about today named thusly), and it’s powered by a 3.8-litre mid-mounted twin-turbo V8. It effectively relaunches the ATS (Automobili Turismo e Sport) brand, which last produced a car - the very pretty 2500 GT - in the mid 1960s. The company has a peculiar history, being formed by a group of high-ranking ex-Ferrari employees in the early 60s following an infamous, large-scale staff exodus from Maranello.

Details for the new car - which was revealed this week at Salon Privé - will be available in two tunes: one with 650bhp, the other with 700. 0-60mph takes three seconds dead, while 0-120mph is done and dusted in just 9.9 seconds. We’re assuming those figures - plus the 206mph quoted top speed - are for the more powerful version, something which ATS doesn’t specify.

Power is sent to the rear wheels via a seven-speed automatic gearbox and a mechanical differential. At the rear you’ll find super-fat 355/25/21 boots, with 255/30/20s up front. The GT has double wishbone suspension at the front and at the rear, while carbon ceramic brakes are fitted as standard.

There’s something rather McLaren-esque about the exterior, and with good reason: it’s based on one of Woking’s supercars (either a 12C or 650S) and yet ATS is asking €1,150,000 apiece for the 12 GTs it intends to make. That seems a bit steep, particularly given that the interior looks to have been in a tremendous fight with a big roll of Alcantara. And lost.

The question is, would you have one of these over something similarly powerful from the likes of Lamborghini, Ferrari or McLaren? Give us your thoughts in the comments below…

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

Hey thats pretty good!
meh i still cant afford a 90’s fiesta anyway

I have crippling depression

Front; good
Back; ok
Interior; bad

yeah, only if it had cupholders sigh

Quite the honest critique that i actually agree with.

For me it’s
Front good
Interior ok
Back terrible

looks like its 90% suede

It looks incomplete like every Lego…anything I’ve ever tried to build

Wait….so this isn’t a modified 12C?

It may well be (shape looks similar in places, intake placement familair). Not like it would be without precedent either - Italdesign did something similar very recently with the R8, after all.

meh

Car companies really need to start calling their high performance cars something cooler. The owners of a Lamborghini Gallardo Super Leggera will enjoy saying that a lot more than the owners of the “ATS GT.”

how about the ATS More Powerful Than Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and The Incredible Hulk Put Together?

I’d rather take an Ultima over this.

Cheaper;
pretty much nobody outside car guys know about it, so it’s not “fancy”;
more powerful;
more “pure”;
lighter;
probably more reliable;
and faster.

I think it is quite obvious that the car is based on the old mclaren (12C or 650S) not only from the interior but also from the side, especially the radiator holes part and the mirrors. And looking at the engine choice it maybe is based on the old mclaren.