| godwin | 05-07-2013 10:32 PM |
The thing is Chinese has the money (private and gov) to back fanciful automotive concepts, because it will move that sector up the food chain. So tons of talent are going to China right now. Besides this car is only to make a statement for Iconia as a consultancy not intended for serial production.
The fact is there are tons of design houses in Europe looking for work and work in Europe is drying up, since especially since car sales have been dropping.. so companies like Bertone expands to China.
Claudio Lombardi worked for Ferrari drivetrain and Samuel Chuffart worked for Nissan. They are pretty well known in the design community. It is just like Peter Schreyer working for Kia / Hyundai. With Lombardi doing the drivetrain, I think it will be worthy of the supercar name (if there is no IP "borrowed" from Ferrari)
I am surprised at the hostility the board has against Chinese car manufacturers (or maybe most people are too young to remember?).. eventually they will get better.. just like the Germans, Japanese and recently the Koreans.. it takes several years of iterations, they will eventually get there... Performance / Safety wise, if they can't pass Canadian emission / safety rules we won't be able to get them (most of them are pretty easy to get these days from Bosch etc), so if they offer 10 year warranties like Hyundai / Mitsu, I am sure people will try them. | 