New Generation Stratos Debuts At Geneva

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At the 2018 Geneva International Motor Show, coachbuilder MAT unveiled a new Stratos, a successor to the infamous Group B rally car Lancia Stratos in the eighties. 

The New Stratos was first unveiled way back in 2010 as a dream project of one Michael Stoschek, who is an ardent fan of rally cars of the Stratos’ era. The Italian rally car looked fetching in Alitalia livery, with the German billionaire Stoschek having commissioned Pininfarina for its design and development. The company used the chassis of the Ferrari F430 Scuderia as a foundation of the rally car. However, sourcing the 430 from Ferrari was a dead end. The company did not support the proposed use of its cars for building the Stratos. Since Pininfarina has a close relationship with Ferrari, the coachbuilder could not produce more than a couple of cars. With no end in sight, the project was put on a backburner.

Fortunately, a new company has stepped in, pledging to take up where Pininfarina had to leave the Stratos. MAT (Manifattura Automobili Torino), another coachbuilder base out of Turin, Italy showed up at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show with the Stoschek brothers’ original new Stratos. MAT is run by Paolo Garella, who used to work for Pininfarina and was closely involved with the development of the rally car eight years ago. The company has earmarked 25 models for production. Customers can choose between three custom trims: Road, Rally, and ‘Safari’ off-road trim. While the Safari trim does sound rather appealing, we’d still choose the Stratos Rally because that’s where it belongs: burning up backroads at a furious pace, with a glorious soundtrack to match.

The new MAT Stratos is not cheap, period. Customers have to source their own Ferrari F430 Scuderia and pay an additional $617,000 to the coachbuilder for the conversion, handled at its facility in Turin.