There could be a ‘new’ name added to the Le Mans Hypercar roster with DSC sources confirming that long-dormant (in the automotive marketplace) Italian luxury brand Isotta Fraschini is involved with a design study for a near-future LMH car.
Little is known about the proposed programme though senior sources have confirmed the brand are involved in discussions with the ACO/ WEC and have been party to recent technical discussions on current and future regulations.
The Isotta Fraschini management team under new owner Colombian oil entrepreneur Franck Kanapet Yepes, involves ex-Maserati and Alfa Romeo man Alfredo Reboa with the effort already engaged with multiple significant technical partners both for their motorsport programme and for a parallel establishment of the brand for high-end bespoke EV road cars.
The brand does have history in motorsport, albeit from over a century ago, their biggest win coming at the Targa Florio in 1908!
The current plan for the road car company is to establish engineering and production facilities in both Bologna and Modena.
The automotive company is a separate concern from the Isotta Fraschini company, part of the Fincantieri Group that is involved with diesel powerplants principally in the marine, industrial and rail sectors.
This is the latest in several attempts to resurrect the brand for road cars, the last being in the late 1990s with the T8 and T12 concepts using Audi A8 mechanicals.
The Isotta Fraschini brand was in its heyday in the 1920s with bespoke cars built for the rich and famous – Road car production petered out by the late 1940s with the brand continuing to build trucks into the 1950s.
DSC has reached out to Isotta Fraschini for comment
