Latest News
Artega, the all-new German sports car firm aiming to build a “serious” £50,000 alternative
to the Porsche Cayman, has confirmed that it will start building right-hand-drive cars early next year, and it has already begun establishing a UK dealer structure.
The company, spun off car components giant Paragon, has a team including ex-BMW engineering guru Karl-Heinz Kalbfell. It is putting the finishing touches to an all-new factory in the Westphalian city of Delbruck where production will start this summer at a rate of about two cars a day, with a view to eventually hitting about 20 a week within two years.
Kalbfell says Artega intends to remain exclusive, building no more than 1000 cars a year, and admitted an open-top version is planned.
The Artega, designed by ex-Aston Martin design chief Henrik Fisker, was revealed at the 2007 Geneva Show as a coupé, but it
will eventually be available as a convertible too. The chassis is an aluminium spaceframe with a supplementary frame made of high-strength steel to support the carbonfibre body.
The transverse, mid-mounted engine is a 3.6-litre V6 unit from the VW family, with 300bhp driving through a six-speed, twin-clutch, paddle-shift gearbox.
The car has several eye-catching properties that will prevent it being seen as “just another sports car”, Kalbfell claims. The first is a target weight of 1100kg, undercutting rivals by at least 250kg to the benefit of agility and performance (170mph, 0-62mph below 5.0sec).
The other advantage is the car’s size; at 4010mm its overall length is barely more than a current Ford Fiesta’s. Its cabin is designed to be more spacious than rivals’, to make the biggest drivers comfortable.
Its big doors allow unusually easy access despite a height of 1180mm, which makes it one of the lowest coupés on the road.
Steve Cropley
Your Say
Comments: 8 Join the discussion