It’s been a big couple of days for Italian design house Zagato, with news today that the stunning Perana Z-one sports car will officially go into production this year.
The idea for the Italian-styled, South African-engineered coupe was first conceived in 2007, ahead of the debut of the Z-one concept at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. With the design and mechanics now finalised, the Z-one will be sold from the second half of this year, with sales limited to 999 in Europe to maintain the exclusivity of Perana and Zagato.
The Z-one is powered by a 6.2-litre all-aluminium General Motors LS3 V8 engine with 330 kW of power and 583 N.m of torque – similar to the unit used by HSV. According to Autoblog, it will also be available in the US with a 377 kW tune of the 7.0-litre LS7 from the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and the HSV W427. A six-speed manual transmission sends the mid-engined power to the rear wheels, and the LS3 variant’s 1 195 kg mass is distributed perfectly 50:50 front and rear. Perana promises a 0 – 100km/h acceleration time of less than 4.0 seconds for the lower-output Z-one and a top speed of 299 km/h. It features a steel tube space frame, vinyl-ester composite body, suspension package by Bilstein and Eibach, 18-inch wheels at the front, 19-inchers at the rear and Michelin PS2 tyres.
The production version of the Perana Z-one has been rumoured to make its European debut at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. The Z-one will be priced from just below £70 000.
