Italian Newcomer Kimera Is Pondering Its Next US Move

There’s a storied history of companies making a move from auto racing into auto manufacturing, and that’s one of the traditions that relative newcomer Kimera Automobili taps into in their own work. There’s also a more specific tradition the company evokes: As Autoblog’s Gabriel Ionica pointed out in a recent article, Kimera founder Luca Betti’s father raced in a Lancia decades ago.

That’s one of the reasons Kimera’s vehicles have drawn inspiration from Lancia’s own iconic lineup. Top Gear’s Ollie Marriage called Kimera’s EVO37 “[o]ne of the most exciting, most complete restomods we’ve ever driven” while also noting the involvement of Lancia alum Claudio Lombardi in this new venture. Restomods play a big part in Kimera’s origin story, but the EVO37 isn’t the only one in their lineup. Last year, Kimera unveiled the K39, along with plans to compete in this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. In announcing the K39, the company also dubbed it “the third act of its tributes to a lost generation of iconic cars,” citing Martini Racing’s Silhouette as its inspiration.

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All of this means that Kimera has an impressive story to tell and some rave reviews for its automotive lineup to date. But it also begs the question of whether this company has its eye on a production model as well. When announcing its intention to compete at Pikes Peak, Kimera said it was working on “a customer version of the K39” that would be available to “[a] small number of passionate collectors.”

As this year’s hill climb at Pikes Peak draws closer, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on Kimera to see what else they have to announce — and what else could be in store for the U.S. market.