Lalique’s new sports car
In one of the most surprising collaborations of the year, the French glassware company has teamed up with the innovative car builder Ares to create a retro motor
Yes, that’s the French luxury glassmaker. And, yes, it is making a car. Lalique has teamed up with the Italian coachbuilder Ares Modena to create a retro-style roadster, the Wami Lalique Spyder, in one of the more unlikely collaborations of the year.
Lalique can lay claim to an automotive history. Sort of. Back in the early 20th century, when custom coach-built car bodies were fashionable, owners would put their individual stamp on the car with a bespoke hood ornament. René Lalique made some of the most desired of these mascots in the Roaring Twenties, and here we are again, one hundred years later, with the name Lalique once more gracing a car.
It may not have a hood ornament, but it does have 13 handcrafted crystal elements on the interior and exterior of the vehicle, made in the Wingen-sur-Moder Lalique factory in Alsace.
The design is a tribute to the great convertibles of the Fifties and Sixties, and there is more than a whiff of the Maseratis and Ferraris of yesteryear that has found its way into the design. The project came about after a meeting of minds between Lalique’s chairman and CEO, Silvio Denz, and Ares’s chairman, Waleed al-Ghafari, and their shared love of cars from that era. It’s an elegant yet muscular-bodied open-top two-seater with a folding canvas roof. Chrome, of which we see less and less in most modern vehicles, comes back with a vengeance in the wire wheels that dominate the profile. It’s a “retro-styled roadster that not only pays homage to some of the most beautiful cars ever created but one that incorporates remarkable artistry and craftmanship from Lalique”, Ghafari says.
Unlike Lalique, with its 135-year history, Ares Modena is a relative newbie on the scene. After stints at Red Bull Formula One, Ferrari and three years as CEO of Group Lotus, Dany Bahar went out on his own in 2014, setting up Ares in Italy’s automotive heartland, Modena. Bahar is infectiously excited about automotive creations, and Ares reflects his personality. He is the Willy Wonka of car builders — everything is possible and everything goes. It creates a mix of vehicles, from reimagined classic Land Rover Defenders to a modern-day version of the De Tomaso Pantera, which it calls the Panther ProgettoUno. Ares will, within reason, do anything you ask it on two wheels or four, which makes it the ideal design house to bring Lalique to the road.
Advertisement
The interior of the Lalique Spyder is simple by modern standards, but uses quality materials, including Italian hides, English oak and, of course, French crystal. The company’s touches adorn the cockpit, for example on the gear lever, and the Lalique Hirondelles motif is embossed on the headrests and steering wheel. Carbon fibre makes a surprise appearance on the dashboard in what is otherwise an old-school interior. It does hint at this car’s modern underpinnings, which will appeal to buyers who crave the classic look but not the classic car upkeep and reliability. It has a six-cylinder three-litre engine with a six-speed automatic gearbox. Acceleration and top-speed figures have yet to be released, but will be of little consequence to buyers of this car, who will be more interested in boulevard cruising than autobahn storming. However, with an aluminium and carbon-fibre bodywork that will keep the weight down it should be reasonably brisk.
Only 12 cars will be made and can be ordered with bodywork in colours including Mediterranean light blue or Amalfi red. Prices start at €445,000. String-backed leather driving gloves and Frank Sinatra soundtrack are optional.
aresdesign.com
