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2011-04-05 [STORIES] Japanese vision that never was
Author: editor Arunas
Despite Italy is considered to be a center or worldwide fashion and design Japanese designers managed to demonstrate a bunch of innovative design examples. While it is thought that these creations from far east cannot compete with Bertone's or Pininfarina's automobiles, these cars mostly astonish by their sophisticated technique. Probably these stereotypes inspired the first Japanese design examples like Sogna and Vera created by Art & Tech which even had its branch in Turin. However, this story is about another example named Aerosa.
The company that created this car is Gigliato Design (Kanagawa, Japan), established by ex-Isuzu designer then 32-years-old Nobuo Nakamura in 1987. It is known that the first design proposals of the new sportscar were created as early as 1991 but the production-ready prototype was shown to public at 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show. Suprisingly, Namakura for his brainchild chose not Japanese, but American - transversely mid-mounted Ford V6 220hp engine mated to mechanical 5-speed gearbox. The car was very low (1120 mm) and quite short - 3980 mm what is 250 mm shorther than Ferrari 348 and almost 500mm shorter than Bugatti EB110. During press conference Namakura wasn't keen on talking about constructional features, but tried to take notice of automobiles's design. The Aerosa is not distinguished by radical design decisions, but its rear end and especially vertically mounted exhaust pipes are compelling. The car was created for a rich buyer who desires to have a powerful, unordinary but comfortable car. This is why the car was equipped with lather seats and air conditioning system. The car didn't feature revoliutonary design because the nature of the sportscar doesn't change, what changes is only a contigent who are planning to buy such car.
At Geneva Motor Show of 1997 a joint venture between Gigliato of Japan and Automobili Lamborghini of Italy was announced to produce the Aerosa in series. Updated Aerosa GPS now featured 4.6-liter 330 hp V8 mounted longitudinally with 6-speed gearbox. The car was to be built in Dusseldorf, Germany and was even intended to enter some races including Le Mans starting 1998. There were plans to establish two new companies - Gigliato Motors Europe to sell car in Europe and FAIA Co. Ltd to import car for Japanese market. Most likely the fact the Lamborghini was purchased by Audi in 1998 meant the end of this Japanese sportscar that could have been but never was.
1997 Gigliato prototype
Gigliato at 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show
Gigliato at 1997 Geneva Motor Show
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