RSS Ermini Seiottosei Barchetta looks into the past to relaunch a brand

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Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Geneva Motor Show

The Florentine sports car builder Ermini is making its grand return to the public eye with the Seiottosei Barchetta at the Geneva Motor Show, after about 50 years of being gone. Its latest model blends an old-school philosophy with modern styling.

Barchetta means "little boat" in Italian and describes a whole niche of convertibles, popular in the 1950s and 1960s, that generally combined low weight and a small engine to give drivers great dynamics in a tiny package. The Seiottosei follows these attributes perfectly with a steel trellis chassis and carbon fiber panels that weigh just 1,512-pounds (686kg) total. Power is provided by a Renault-sourced turbocharged 2.0-liter, four-cylinder pumping out 315 horsepower, and six-speed sequential gearbox. Ermini claims it is enough to push the little roadster to 62 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds and to an electronically limited top speed of 168 mph.

Ermini went out of business the first time in 1962, but in its era it took class wins in major races like the Targa Florio in 1950 and 1953. It reopened in 2007, and now hopes to find its place in the crowded boutique car segment.

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Ermini Seiottosei Barchetta looks into the past to relaunch a brand originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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