Ever since the 2013 Italdesign Parcour and Audi Nanuk concepts, we've been waiting and hoping for a legitimate off-road supercar that blends Italian styling with burly drive-anywhere construction. We're not quite there yet, but Turin-based design studio Camal has given us its take on a "hypersuv" it calls the Ramusa.
This high-riding AWD sports car vision would see 800-hp (597-kW) worth of Bugatti V12 and electric power shooting its driver across road and dirt. Camal designed the Ramusa for a client, and says that there's been talk of a limited series release, but we're definitely not holding our breath for this oddball two-seater to make it onto the road, or off the road. It's an interesting design exercise, though.
The client chose the pre-Volkswagen-era Bugatti EB110 supercar as the basis of the build, and Camal designed an all-new high-riding concept around that car's carbon chassis and quad-turbo 3.5-liter V12 engine. It's a fairly nondescript sports car with a short, plain front, tucked-and-creased sides, muscular rear haunches, and air inlets and outlets cut into various parts of the 170 x 79.5 x 51.2-in (4,320 x 2,020 x 1,300-mm, L x W x H) body.
The Ramusa concept is no Jeep Wrangler fighter, but it earns a little all-terrain capability from its squarish, large tire-accommodating wheel arches, 9.8-in (250-mm) ground clearance and AWD powertrain. The rear wheel-powering V12 gets help from an electric motor hooked to the front wheels for a total system output of over 800 hp.
Beyond the quick mention of a limited series "in the near future," Camal doesn't say anything about when we might expect an actual car. And being that it's an off-road sports car developed around a decades-old platform by a young Italian design firm for an undisclosed client, we won't be spending time looking for it at upcoming auto shows.
Source: Camal
Even if for some reason you want to exploit those geegees on the black stuff you had better change the cross country tyres or you will likely find them shredded after a few miles with the pedal pushed to the metal. Not only that, those lovely alloy rims will also be a bit the worse for wear.