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If you want a compact yet spacious two-seater sports car that would turn heads everywhere you take it, the Artega GT Coupe is your ride. It does not have an aura of nostalgia or erstwhile glory, and that is because it is a brand spanking new product from an absolutely new entrant into the sports car market, German electronics giant Paragon who launched the brand Artega in Geneva this January.
But this car does come with impeccable design credentials, because it was created by Henrik Fisker, who was formerly the chief designer at Aston Martin.
The Artega GT has a generous space-frame construction in aluminum and a skin made of carbon-fiber, which allows it a remarkable power to weight ratio. It has a VW 3.6-liter V-6 engine, which takes it from 0 to 60 mph in less than 6 seconds, and the best speed of about 168 mph.
Not the best performance as far as sports cars go, but then at 13 feet long, 6 feet wide, 4 feet tall and tipping the scales at about 100 kg, the Artega GT is not a very big car. It is probably the size of a Mazda MX-5 with the height of a Lamborghini Gallardo.
But the advantage lies in the placement of the engine rather than its power. Because of the rear-mounted engine, there is a lot of space left over, which allows room for an optional child seat and ample luggage space.
The interior space is also very efficiently used, providing not only two luggage compartments, but also an assortment of storage nooks. It is amazing how much you can fit into such a small car.
As if this is not enough, the Artega GT also comes with Volkswagen's Dual Shift Gate (DSG) sequential-shift manual, which boasts an automatic clutch. This is just one in a series of driving aids that are dynamic and active. For instance, the GT even features innovations like a compact module constructed with steel tubing, which encases the V-6 power plant with the direct-shift gearbox combined with a specifically designed inverting stage.
The first series of 500 cars would be available for sports car connoisseurs with an approximate 100,000$ price tag. The Artega GT will begin production end of this year in Delbruck, Germany and land in showrooms in the summer of 2008. The Artega GT does not seek to offer competition, but rather to carve out a niche of its own.