You can now make a retro Ferrari 400 from a GTC4Lusso
Dany Bahar is a survivor. He’s also someone with an amazing ability to gather top-tier talent around him when a business idea strikes. The former Red Bull and Ferrari marketing wizard, who later and controversially gambled on a massive expansion plan when he became CEO of Lotus, has just formally opened his next project: Ares Design, a contemporary carrozzeria/coachbuilder based in the heart of Italy’s motorsport valley in Modena.
For anyone who still doubts Bahar’s motivations, Ares Design’s HQ is a pretty effective means of shutting down the naysayers. Housed in an 18,000-square metre former Fiat and Alfa Romeo dealership, Bahar and his principal partner in the business, Waleed Al Ghafari – a telecoms entrepreneur who bid on and owns the Aston Martin DB10 featured in the Bond film Spectre, following a charity auction – have already delivered more than 150 cars, and have plans to grow the workforce beyond the 110 people already employed.
Bahar insists that there is a potent global demand for one-off cars amongst wealthy post-economic individuals for whom existing firms like Touring or Zagato, and indeed Ferrari, JLR and McLaren’s special ops divisions, don’t go far enough – and charge too much money for the pleasure.
Dany Bahar is a survivor. He’s also someone with an amazing ability to gather top-tier talent around him when a business idea strikes. The former Red Bull and Ferrari marketing wizard, who later and controversially gambled on a massive expansion plan when he became CEO of Lotus, has just formally opened his next project: Ares Design, a contemporary carrozzeria/coachbuilder based in the heart of Italy’s motorsport valley in Modena.
For anyone who still doubts Bahar’s motivations, Ares Design’s HQ is a pretty effective means of shutting down the naysayers. Housed in an 18,000-square metre former Fiat and Alfa Romeo dealership, Bahar and his principal partner in the business, Waleed Al Ghafari – a telecoms entrepreneur who bid on and owns the Aston Martin DB10 featured in the Bond film Spectre, following a charity auction – have already delivered more than 150 cars, and have plans to grow the workforce beyond the 110 people already employed.
Bahar insists that there is a potent global demand for one-off cars amongst wealthy post-economic individuals for whom existing firms like Touring or Zagato, and indeed Ferrari, JLR and McLaren’s special ops divisions, don’t go far enough – and charge too much money for the pleasure.
Inspired by a client’s love of the 1970s Ghia-designed original, Ares says it has seven other orders for the Panther. “We use CFD to validate the design, and to ensure that the base car’s aerodynamics and cooling requirements aren’t compromised,” Panatescu tells TG.
Ares is also exploring the lucrative resto-mod market, and will re-engineer a Porsche 964 to fit a 991-sourced PDK transmission and steering, the front axle and brakes from a 997 model, as well as the sat nav from the latest Panamera. Another recent project blended the body from a one-owner, 53-year old Corvette Stingray with the chassis and powertrain from the Vette C6.
Around £600k gets you the carbon-bodied, Mercedes G-Class 4x4 squared X-Raid, and Ares has also taken advantage of Bentley’s failure to replace its huge Brooklands model by creating an impressively engineered Mulsanne coupe. Elsewhere, a Ferrari GTC4lusso is about to sacrifice its innards to re-emerge as a 2018 homage to the once-unloved but newly cool Ferrari 400, and a Porsche 918 is going under the knife on behalf of a Swiss client.
“It’s not special-looking enough for him,” Bahar smiles. “The real value here is to make the customer happy with the car he or she has designed. We help them realise their dream, and there’s a rising demand for that. It’s not a rational investment, it’s an emotional one.”
Significantly, however, Ares Design has been profitable since year one, and though Bahar has plans to grow the business, he’s keeping the ambitions in check. Nor is he interested in building his own car, or becoming a consultancy. This isn’t a Lotus-style odyssey. “I don’t think we have the ego to do our own car,” he says. “We’re customer-demand focused, not strategically driven.”
