We haven't heard much from German sports car maker Artega since we spotted the Scalo prototype at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. But as it's done in the past, it's popped its head back up a couple of years later, this time with a much more convincing iteration of the Scalo. With its lines smoothened out by the highly capable pens at Touring Superleggera, the Scalo Superelletra is the best-looking Artega yet. And with a 1,000-hp electric powertrain, it's also the most potent.
Artega has taken some serious steps since showing the Scalo back in 2015, the most obvious of which is hiring Touring Superleggera to evolve the exterior design. The Italian design house has masterfully kept the original Scalo's general look while smoothing out the rough edges.
Touring's task was made a little easier by the stretched, three-seat layout of the Supelletra, which has given way to a 181-in (4,600-mm) length. The original Scalo had a two-seat, 158-in (4,010-mm-long) layout, and the Supelletra's look benefits from the longer, lither body, which is particularly noticeable when comparing the new stretched fastback greenhouse with the short, scrunched one on the 2015 Scalo.
Beyond the stretched proportions, Touring's work shines through in the tighter, more cohesive front-end design, sleeker headlamps, more sharply defined fenders and character lines, and thinner, wider rear-end treatment. Touring's take is decidedly sleeker and sexier than the 2015 car, while still maintaining a very "Scalo" look.
The copper-colored skin is made from a combination of aluminum and carbon fiber, with polyurethane finding use in the bumper construction. A carbon fiber monocoque and high-tensile steel-tube subframes with carbon fiber supports provide the structure below.
"The fully electric Scalo prototype in Frankfurt 2015 was for us an experiment – if you like, it was us dipping our toe in the water to check the temperaturebefore diving in," Artega said in introducing the car at the Geneva Motor Show. "We solved the problem with electric vehicles being slow and heavy with alimited range, and therefore, not very practical."
"[With the Superelletra], we set out with a goal of delivering supercar performance with a range of atleast 500 kilometers (311 mi) between charges. New high power and high efficientelectric engines and high capacity batteries – with a new world record in termsof energy density – have been developed, giving us the technical edge that weneeded for this breakthrough. You charge within just four minutes another 100km (62 miles) of range. In 17 minutes, 80 percent of the capacity are charged."
The new powertrain features four water-cooled Voltabox electric engines teaming up for a rear-biased power spread of up to 536 hp in back and up to 469 hp up front for a total of 1,005 hp of nominal output (1,261 hp peak). The 1,195 lb-ft of torque is vectored for improved handling and performance. Power is stored in a 120-kWh 800V lithium-ion battery pack, and Artega believes the 4,078-lb (1,850-kg) Superelletra will travel up to 311 miles (500 km, NEDC) per charge.
That components package is quite a leap up from the 2015 Scalo's 402-hp/575 lb-ft dual-motor/37-kWh battery layout, and performance estimates jump right up along with it. According to Artega, the Scalo Superelletra can sprint from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 2.7 seconds, about a second quicker than the 402-hp Scalo. The new car can hit a 186-mph (300-km/h) electronically limited top speed much faster than the Scalo's 155-mph (249-km/h) top speed and quite fast for an electric car, period.
The Scalo Superelletra was spinning around with its doors closed at Touring Superleggera's Geneva Motor Show booth, and those doors remain closed in all the pictures we've seen. So all we know about the interior is that it uses a McLaren F1-like 1+2 seating layout. The doors have been cut into the roof to provide easier entry for all three passengers.
Hopefully Artega will get some help in refining the interior design, just as it has the exterior. We liked the curved OLED and digital instruments of the 2015 Scalo, but beyond that, the console and dashboard design felt like something out of a kit car.
Artega plans to begin limited series production of 50 Scalo Superelletra models in the (Northern Hemisphere) spring of 2019, giving itself plenty of time for further development and testing. The car will price in somewhere between €500,000 and €1 million (approx. US$536,500 and $1.07 million) and can be reserved now for a €100K (US$107,300) portion of that price.
Showing that it's all in on green building, Artega says that its manufacturing processes will be carbon neutral and the Scalo Supelletra fully recyclable. It also says it's sold off the production tools and facilities for its old petrol V6-powered GT to Saleen.
Sources: Artega, Touring Superleggera
