mar 7, 2012 - 2012 PRIMO Automobili Performante Supersport

Description:

The Performante Supersport was released by end of year 2012 and has a rather unusual story of origin, dating back to late 2009.

It was end of year 2009. Luca Moretti, Alfredo Moretti's son, had just taken over as Primo's CEO earlier in the year and was still getting acclimated with the job. Luca recieved a phone call from his good friend Ignazio Costa, a wealthy investor and car/motorsport enthusiast. This time, it was not just a social call, but business related.

Knowing that his friend Luca was now at the helm of Primo, Ignazio took the opportunity and persuaded him to have Primo develop an engine for a drag team he had invested in recently. It took some convincing, but eventually Luca agreed to the proposal and assigned some of his best engineers to the project.

Alfredo, Luca's father, was furious when he heard that Primo was doing a commission project, and at a loss for words when he learnt that the aggreement stated that Ignazio would make a one-time payment for the engine on delivery, and had not yet paid a single lira to Primo for the project.

Alfredo's concerns were well founded, and confirmed, when Ignazio had to declare bankruptcy in mid-2010 after a string of bad investments that backfired on him. Primo never got any payment for the project and Luca hasn't spoken with Ignazio since.

Luca decided that to cut their losses, they would tweak the now almost finished engine for a production car, and out came the Performante Supersport, released in early 2012. With over 850 horsepower in a naturally aspirated flatplane crank V8 engine, it reaches a top speed of 332 kmh and only takes 2.74 seconds to rocket from 0-100kmh, all while singing that beautiful flatplane V8 song.

Due to the nature of the engine, the Performante was made in a limited production run of only 1.000 cars. They were all sold within 2 weeks of the reveal.

Needless to say, Primo never again took on a commission project.

Price at launch in 2012:
$140.000

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