Ares Design Panther

Over the past few months we’ve been reporting on some new projects from Ares Design from Modena. These had one thing in common: they were just computer sketches that were still far from possible realizations. Now, the impression could arise that Ares doesn’t accomplish much more than drawings and announcements. Not even close. In the past week, the small Italian brand presented their new Panther as a completed project, which is now available to customers in a small series production. This vehicle is visually reminiscent of the legendary Pantera, with which De Tomaso pleased sports car enthusiasts around the world from the early 1970s to the early 1990s.

While the De Tomaso brand has already set for several decades, especially the Pantera enjoys great popularity to this day. Not only a few sports car fans have been wishing for a new edition for some time. Ares Design now fulfills this wish on the basis of the Lamborghini Huracán. Yes, you read that correctly, this retro sports car, which in original configuration came with a big US V8 under the rear hood, now howls out of ten combustion chambers. With this naturally aspirated V10 engine the Panther has a full 650 hp and more than 600 newtonmeters of torque, which are transmitted to the electronically controlled all-wheel drive system via a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. According to Ares it accelerates in 3.1 seconds from standstill to 100 kph (62 mph) and reaches a topspeed of over 325 kph (202 mph).

In order to transfer the legendary Pantera design as accurately as possible to the present day, Ares Design developed tailor-made carbon fiber components for the basic platform of the Huracán. Interestingly, the Panther is only slightly larger than its model due to the dimensions of the Huracán and shows the same beautiful proportions. However, modern wheels are used with 20 inch at the front and 21 inch at the rear. New are the LED daytime running lights below the popup-headlights, which also use LED technology. Yes, the Panther is indeed the first new vehicle with popup-headlights since the production of the De Tomaso Guarà, Lotus Esprit and Corvette C5 stopped in 2004.

Of course, customers can choose from a wide range of colors for the body as well as for the leather and Alcantara in the interior. The premiere vehicle uses brown leather in combination with Alcantara, red contrast stitching and bare carbon decorative trim. Interested parties can either deliver their own Lamborghini Huracán to Ares for the conversion or order a completed car. The conversion takes about 17 weeks (depending on special requests) and costs from 615,000 € (plus taxes and base vehicle).

Images: Ares Design