50 Years Later, the ATS 2500 GT Is Finally Going Into Production

The original Ferrari slayer is back from the dead

September 6, 2017 9:00 am

Under the hood of the car you see above are 650 reasons you should never piss off your engineer.

Because back in ‘61, when Ferrari was running away with the F1 title, they were also rubbing the gents who designed said F1 cars the wrong way. The board of directors had tired of the influence Enzo Ferrari’s better half, Laura Dominica Garello Ferrari, held over the company. Rather than appease his team, Enzo canned ‘em all.

The result was the creation of Automobili Turismo e Sport (ATS), an enemy of Ferrari’s own making.

ATS ran in a string of Grand Prix before throwing in the towel on their race program in ‘63. But they didn’t just want to hit Ferrari where it hurt on the track — they also created a deft street-going ride, the ATS 2500 GT, which was revealed at the ‘63 Geneva Motor Show. Despite punching well above its weight on the technical front, the handsome coupe never went to production, and the whole business shuttered in ‘64, having only produced 12 makes total.

But rarely do rivals die quietly. And some 50 years later, the Italian ATS announced a revival project in 2012. Now, after a fair amount of teasing, talk and renderings in the years since, the 2500 GT successor is finally here.   

ATS GT (3 images)

The steed was officially revealed at the 2017 Salon Privé Concours d’Elegance in the United Kingdom, alongside an original 2500 GTS.

It’s carbon fiber throughout both body and chassis, perhaps a not-so-subtle hat tip to the LaFerrari. Under the hood, she’s working with a 3.8-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 mounted behind the cabin, with a 7-speed dual-clutch tranny pushing drive to the rear wheels. All in all, that’ll be good for up to 650 horsepower with 500 lb-ft of torque. Or one could go for the 700 horsepower option, with 553 lb-ft of torque sprinting 0-60 in 3.0 seconds or less and topping out over an estimated 206 mph. Call us crazy, but the latter seems like the move.

While the new GT takes design cues from the original, it still has all the makings of a contemporary supercar, from ergonomics to touchscreen infotainment to sensors in lieu of door handles.

“We use words such as challenge, adventure, beauty and passion to represent the values that were shared among all the founders of ATS in 1962,” CEO Daniele Maritan said. “Today we find the same values in the talented people bringing back this historically important brand.”

Only 12 special edition GTs will be produced in an homage to the original 12 2500 GTs. Built to order in Borgomanero, Italy, each will set a fella back in the range of $1.3m. But this is likely not the end of ATS.

There’s definitely a new supercar in town.  

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