Styling House Italdesign Is About To Launch An R8-Based Supercar For 10 Times The Price

Italdesign, the Italian styling house behind the likes of the Alfa Romeo 159, the 1974 Volkswagen Scirocco and the magnificent Daewoo Lacetti, is about to launch its own car.

Now owned by Volkswagen, through Audi and Lamborghini, Italdesign is set to reveal a V10-powered hyper-exclusive supercar at the Geneva Motor Show. It’s set to use the R8 V10’s engine in a similar state of tune to the Plus model, giving it over 600bhp and a 0-62mph sprint time of 3.2 seconds. Top speed is about 205mph.

It also has the R8’s quattro four-wheel drive system. And the R8’s dual-clutch gearbox.

OK, it’s basically a re-bodied R8 V10 Plus. It will be road legal, say its makers, but just five will be built for “collectors and visionary enthusiasts” willing to pay – brace yourself – between the £1.3 million starting price and an expected £2 million after options. That’s the price of five whole R8 V10s just in options.

An R8 V10 Plus goes for around £135,000, so we can’t help but wonder if this is some kind of joke.

The fact that the engine, chassis and running gear are already sorted means the as-yet unnamed car will be ready by the end of this year, and you can bet that it will share Audi technology on the inside, too, although rumours suggest it will be lighter than the R8 by a margin.

Italdesign’s supercar project chief Filippo Perini confirmed that a new Italdesign model would be revealed every year, each in a ridiculously small batch and presumably with an inexplicably large price tag.

Well, if people are stupid enough to pay this sort of money for an R8 in a frock, then who are we to argue?