Laboratorio BEBI is the latest Swedish (and maybe the only real Swedish car company now that Koeniggsegg is Norwegian). Inspired by Giotto Bizzarrini, their business idea is to develop the general supercar-concept onto a new more interesting path.
Instead of just adding more horsepower for better performance, BEBI aims to remove weight. It is a bigger and more interesting challenge and it brings a lot of benefits. A light car is a nicer drive, needs less power to perform, is nicer to the environment and costs less to manufacture.
This idea is now developed in to the Quercianella. With only half the weight of any current supercar, the same or better performance (except top speed, top speed is for dinner conversations), great looks, BEBI will offer an intelligent driving tool for half the price of most supercars.
The name Quercianella is a tribute to Giotto Bizzarrini who is a good friend and the man behind the first conceptual pre prototipo. Bizzarrini is a legend and a great engineer. He developed the Ferrari GTO, the Lamborghini V12 engine and his own Bizzarrini cars. Today, getting close to 80, he is still developing and building prototypes. Quercianella is the place where he grew up and where lives today.
It all started in 1997 when founder, Clas Muller was on honeymoon in Tuscany. There he met the famous Ing. Bizzarrini to find out more about his own classic car, a red Bizzarrini Europa Corsa. It turnes out that Bizzarrini was more interested in creating new prototypes than discussing his famous old creations and that was how the seed was planted. A year later Clas Muller was back with an idea to develop a super lightweight sportscar — a baby Bizzarrini. This was the starting point of the P1, the first BEBI Prototype.
BEBI believes there is a niche for a baby supercar. A car with all the performance and all the looks of any supercar, but at half the weight. And therefore also a lot cheaper. Pricing is an important part of the branding process. The people behind Zonda, Koenigsegg, Enzo etc know that. To set a price at 300.000 pounds + is an effective way of differentiating. It will limit the volume which is part of their strategy. The profit marginal is high enough and they will not have to sell many cars to make a good business.
BEBI has a different way of thinking. Let’s say that you want something more high-tech than a Caterham and more of a roadcar than a Radical. You want a carbonfibre chassis, great design, a multi cylinder engine and a sequential gearbox and you believe AC, stereo, leather upholstery etc has nothing to do with advanced driving. Basically you want a high tech formula car made for two but with the looks of a fantastic supercar. You start looking and you find nothing.
At 50K Euro you get a Caterham, Elise or a Radical. Double that and you get a Porsche 911, a Noble or a TVR. Not what you are looking for. Double that and you get a Gallardo. Nice car but not a racer. So double that and you are getting close to a Carrera GT, an Enzo or a Zonda. Pay up or step back.
Laboratorio BEBI are offering you a very special tool of a car that still looks like a car. A great looking supercar with that very special feather weight feature that makes it very fast and very nice to drive. 525 Hp and 525 Kg. Supercar perfomance, supercar looks and supercar handling — at half the price. This is the mission.
The facts:
-Bodywork: All painted carbonfibre
-Chassis: Carbonfibre semi monocoque with steel subframes and composite crash structures
-Suspension: Double wishbone, pushrod activated Ohlins coilovers
-Engine: V8 2.4 litre. 380-525 Hp at 10.500 Rpm.
-Transmission: 6 speed sequential transaxel
-Length: 4230 mm
-With: 1920 mm
-Height: 1038 mm
-Wheelbase: 2600 mm
-Weight: 525 kg
-Wheels: Dymag Carbonfibre/magnesium. Front 9×18, rear 10×18
-Tyres: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup. Front
-Brakesystem: AP Racing
-Performance: Acc 0-100 km/h. 3 sek Top speed. 300 km/h +++
Marketing and sales will start in September 2006 and first deliveries are planned for summer 2007. The final price is not yet set but is expected to be in the area of 220.000 Euro.
Yakymour 