Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera is two years shy of its century. As one of the preeminent surviving Italian coachbuilders, the Milanese firm has gone through a familiar journey of success, struggle, bankruptcy and rebirth, and now finds itself once again in high demand as a supplier of bespoke automobiles to a select group of collectors who aren’t driven by the vicissitudes of luxury car one-upmanship. Touring builds for those who know what they want, not what they’re told they want, bucking trends in design, fashion and vulgar horsepower wars.
This is the Veloce12, a radical and comprehensive overhaul of the 550 Maranello, Ferrari’s flagship V12-powered grand tourer that was manufactured from 1996 to 2002. Originally bodied by Pininfarina, the 550 was never considered one of Ferrari’s stone-cold classics, but rather a relatively discrete GT that harked back to a golden age of motoring.
The Veloce12 starts with the raw building blocks of the 550 and amplifies them, tweaking surfaces and trim, mechanical systems and tunings, to create a GT that is both classically elegant and strikingly modern. ‘It was a dream to make a car that reflected on what we loved about the 90s, but which performs like a contemporary car,’ says Touring’s CEO, Markus Tellenbach, ‘Veloce12 offers the joy and pleasure of commanding a manual machine.’
Four design proposals were made, with the winning design approved by likely customers; 20 of the 30 cars planned have already been sold. ‘It is pure Italian, designed and built in Italy,’ says Tellenbach, adding that ‘everything can be bespoke, as long as it is legally possible.’ Touring’s manufacturing facility not only builds its own limited-edition models but occasionally contracts out to other manufacturers – the upcoming Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is being built there.
You’d be hard-pressed to find many modern cars that blend a manual gearbox with a V12 (Aston Martin’s limited-edition Valour, for example) but that’s exactly what the Veloce12 promises. Ferrari’s 5.5-litre V12 is now paired with better cooling and exhaust systems, new brakes and an advanced new adaptive suspension system, all filtered through the purist analogue driving experience that only a traditional gated gearshift can provide.
‘The 550 had all the ingredients we need, although today it is [technically] quite dated,’ says Tellenbach. Touring set about engaging suppliers who could bring the company’s vision for the car to life. The result is described by Touring as ‘Pure Italianità’, and an ‘antidote to electronic overload.’
Thanks to those enhancements, the Veloce12 now provides an impressive 503hp. Paired with all carbon fibre bodywork, and the car is more responsive and dynamically capable than the original, without losing the qualities of refinement and effortless grace that define the brand. ‘It’s not where we normally sit but we wanted it to be a capable sports car in today’s market,’ Tellenbach admits, adding that ‘Touring is not about lap times or track days or straight-line acceleration. The GT expresses best what Touring stands for – it’s where we believe we can express ourselves in a convincing way.’
‘Touring has 98 years of practice at designing cars that stand the test of time,’ Tellenbach enthusiasts, stressing that in the modern era, the art of coachbuilding is very different. ‘You have to do it in co-operation with a manufacturer because cars are just so sophisticated,’ he says. Acting as a specialist manufacturer for the likes of Alfa Romeo – and licensing the ‘Superleggera’ name to Aston Martin – are just some of the ways that the art of the Carrozzeria survives in the present day. ‘Creating your own car is a high-risk business,’ Tellenbach explains.
Projects like Veloce12 capitalise on enthusiastic owners who want to transform their existing car for the better via an engaging, one-on-one bespoke process. ‘It’s a true driving experience,’ he says of the Veloce12, ‘we promised no screens. None. No downloads. No upgrades. It’s all about the joy of commanding something that precisely follows your directions and inputs. Wired. Honest. Straight and unfiltered.’
Inside and out, the Veloce12 presents a lithe and graceful face to the world, subtly muscular but still delicate in comparison to the aggressive swoops and vents of contemporary supercars and GTs. ‘It’s not a hooligan, it’s an elegant grand turismo,’ Tellenbach stresses, ‘it’s a car in a tuxedo, not a wrestling outfit.’
Touring Superleggera Veloce12, €690,000 plus donor car (excluding taxes), TouringSuperleggera.eu, @TouringSuperleggera
