Icona Vulcano debuts in Shanghai. Who said Chinese cars are dull?

The Icona Vulcano is a new ‘Chinese’ supercar concept which brings together the best of European design, engineering, modelling and prototyping in a 900+ horsepower hybrid two-seater.

The powertrain is the work of Claudio Lombardi, former technical director at Ferrari, and features a front mid-mounted V12 engine, combined with a single electric motor at the rear. The Vulcano is claimed to reach a top speed of 217mph and accelerate from 0-125mph in less than 10 seconds (McLaren P1: less than 7 seconds).

A second powertrain option – H-Turismo – uses a twin-turbo V6 complemented by two electric motors producing around 860bhp. The V12 powertrain is named H-Competizione.

The Vulcano’s design is an evolution of the Icona Fuselage concept, first shown in 2011 by Samuel Chuffart, Icona’s Design Director.

Created in response to growing demand from the Chinese automotive sector for projects to be carried out close to their location, ICONA Shanghai is unique among European design studios. The entire ICONA Shanghai team – and not just its commercial office – is based permanently in China in the heart of Shanghai’s Pudong district.

It works in close partnership with its technical partners, Tecnocad Progetti and Cecomp located in Torino, Italy and AIPA, a powertrain engineering consultancy founded by Lombardi.

Claudio Lombardi is one of the most successful Italian motor engineers, and was racing director of Lancia when it won seven World Rally Championships with the 037 Rally and Delta S4 from 1982 to 1991. He was also powertrain technical director of Ferrari for Formula One and GT cars from 1991 to 2000, and project leader of Aprilia when it won the Superbike World Championship in 2010 with Max Biaggi.

Unfortunately the Vulcano is merely a concept, designed to showcase the expertise of the company, so we’ll not be seeing it on the road unless they find an industrial partner.

Looks (and sounds) promising though doesn’t it?