ARES PANTHER

What is it?

It’s the return of pop-up headlights.

A quiet moment of triumph for a truly distinguishing feature, unfairly consigned to history. They belong to the rather tasty new Ares Panther, which is inspired by the Seventies De Tomaso Pantera.

Underneath sits a carbon/aluminium chassis from a Lamborghini Huracán, and a revamped version of that Lambo V10 – increased from 5.2 litres to 5.6 litres – producing 650bhp and 413lb ft of torque. The throttle response and gearshifts (from a seven-speed dual-clutcher) have also been sharpened, and we’re promised the whole thing will sound very good indeed. “One of the most significant characteristics of the Ares Panther is its voice. The sound produced from the naturally aspirated V10 is nothing short of a roar,” explains tech boss and big cat fanatic Matteo Vezzani.

Can I buy one?

Only 21 Panthers are scheduled to be built, each starting at €515,000. Ares Design has confirmed that all 2018 cars have already been ordered, with each one taking 24 weeks to build. Look out for Ferrari 250 GTO and 400i homages in the pipeline.