New Stratos Project Encounters Resistance From Ferrari

One of the most exciting stories of last year was the one-off New Stratos project. It captivated the automotive community, and there were curious circumstances surrounding it. Interest was first piqued when the car was shown testing at a Fiat track in Italy. From there the attention grew.

The car was commissioned by wealthy German businessman Michael Stoschek. He is heavily involved with the auto industry as a rally car driver and is the head of the fifth-largest auto parts supplier in Germany. Stoschek commissioned the car from Pininfarina, and it is based off the Ferrari F430 Scuderia. The New Stratos is brilliant for the buzz it created, and the styling looks as fresh today as it days all those years ago when it launched.

Obviously, many people agree as the revived Stratos received a lot of interest from prospective customers about a production run. The project then made it clear it was investigating a limited run. Recently, some news came out on the project's website about the status of those efforts.

Over 40 buyers have shown interest in the car, and New Stratos stated that those 40 vehicles could be produced using either the Ferrari 360 Modena or F430 Scuderia as a basis. The production process would be the same as the one-off original - and likely very exorbitant in cost.

New Stratos intended to commission the production run from Pininfarina, as was done with the original. After inquiring though, they learned that Pininfarina will only produce the cars once they receive approval from Ferrari.

This is interesting given that the original didn't need approval apparently, and that the fact that the cars would be based off of previous generation Ferrari models. It is possible that Pininfarina doesn't want to be involved due to the destruction of Ferrari vehicles (40 Ferraris would be turned into New Stratos models) and its deep ties to Ferrari. Regardless, Ferrari isn't giving its consent to Pininfarina or any of its suppliers.

This is despite Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo driving the car last year and having nothing bad to say. These suppliers are clearly reluctant to go against Ferrari's wishes, so the project is contacting companies that have no ties to Ferrari.

One thing is for sure - that would be the quickest way for these companies to ensure they didn't get any business from Ferrari in the future. However it seems interesting that Ferrari would be basically instructing all its suppliers not to work with New Stratos (if this is truly the case). Insecure much? Let us know your thoughts on the subject in the comments.