Automotive News
Portugal has never been any kind of hub of automotive industry. This did not stop Jose Miguel Conceiçao Rodrigues, a Portuguese businessman who runs a classic-car dealership here. He embarked on an ambitious path to come up with a home-breed sports car named the Vinci GT that has reached the prototype and mock-up stage.Rodrigues teamed with the nonprofit Center for Excellence and Innovation in the Auto Industry (CEIIA). Together they started the Retrosport company to draw up the design. The Vinci GT was penned by Ernesto Freitas, a designer whose portfolio also includes the Dutch Hansen GT-R sports car.
The look of the prototype is very '60s. Power comes from a 6.0-liter Chevrolet V8 capable of 475 horsepower, mated to a four-speed automatic gearbox. Most of the components were produced locally. Retrosport hopes to launch production in January 2008 of a total of 100 cars, each costing the equivalent of $341,000.
Meanwhile, the company has mocked up a second model, the transverse midengine Vinci Sport, which appears like nothing so much as a modernized Ferrari Dino. Further plans for this design have not yet been announced.
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