The AC 378 GT Zagato is a

sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

Zagato Zagato is a Coachbuilder, coachbuilding company founded by Ugo Zagato in 1919. The design center of the company is located in Terrazzano, a village near Rho, Lombardy, Italy. History The 1910s: Aeronautics Ugo Zagato was an Italians, Italian ...

and built in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Hi-Tech Automotive Hi-Tech Automotive is a low volume, specialist car builder and design house located in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Most of the vehicles produced are exported, notably to the US and UK. The main distributor of the cars built by Hi-Tech is Su ...

. It was unveiled at the

2012 Geneva Motor Show 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...

. The design of the 378 GT was previewed in 2009 as the Perana Z-One, and was later badged as an

AC Cars AC Cars, originally incorporated as Auto Carriers Ltd., is a British specialist automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest independent car makers founded in Britain. As a result of bad financial conditions over the years, the company was re ...

product. Sales were expected to commence by the end of 2012. The car is powered by a 6.2 L V8 GM sourced engine found in the

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro sha ...

. Weighing , the car has a 0-100 kph acceleration time of 3.9 seconds and a top speed of around 298 kph. The car does not feature any electronic driver aids. The car was priced at around €109,990 for the coupe version.

History

In February 2009, the South African company Perana presented the result of its cooperation with the Italian design studio Zagato, a small sports car with a

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...

body. Named the Perana Z-One, it was officially presented at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. The styling of the Z-One was described by the manufacturer as a combination of futurism, lightness and aerodynamics. The car received a characteristic, slim silhouette with a flat, elongated front and muscular rear wheel arches. Typically for cars designed by Zagato, the front fascia was decorated with a low, rounded radiator grille with a structure of chrome, horizontal bars. The car is powered by a 6.2-liter V8 engine with 440 hp and 583 Nm of maximum torque at 6.6 thousand revolutions per minute. Weighing less than 1.2 tons, it accelerates to 100 km/h in 4 seconds. The power unit was developed by the American company General Motors, coming from the

Chevrolet Corvette C6 The Chevrolet Corvette (C6) is the sixth generation of the Corvette sports car that was produced by Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 2005 to 2013 model years. It is the first Corvette with exposed headlamps (as opposed to hidden head ...

model.

Name change

Three years after the premiere of the Z-One, Perana Performance Group faced financial difficulties and handed over the project to British company AC Cars. As a result, the car was given a new name, the AC 378 GT Zagato. A characteristic feature of the model after being renamed an AC was the lack of electronic driver assistance systems, aimed at experienced, talented drivers.

Sale

Sales of the car began in July 2009. Originally, Perana planned to produce a limited number of 999 units at the plant in

Port Elizabeth, South Africa Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

, at a price of $70,000 per car. Ultimately, however, only 10 units of the sports model were built under the Perana brand, 7 of which went to customers in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In February 2017, one of them was put up for $125,999 on

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

. After being renamed AC 378 GT Zagato, production continued to be handled by plants belonging to Hi-Tech Automotive in

, but this also failed to be realized on a large scale and after 2012, information about the car ceased.

Engine

* V8 6.2l 443hp GM LS3

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ac Cobra 378 GT Zagato Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Sports cars Coupés Cars introduced in 2012