One of the biggest highlights of the Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza was the world premiere of the Ferrari 575 GTZ, a car specifically built for “gentleman drivers” along the lines of the historic 250 GTZ from 1956.

“The launch of the Ferrari 575 GTZ is important for two reasons,” commented Zagato’s Paolo di Taranto at the exclusive Italian event. “Firstly it marks one of the first coachbuilt cars in recent years to be able to officially be sold using the Prancing Horse badge. Secondly it also marks Zagato’s return to building coachbuilt cars, something which we wish to expand on over the coming years. Zagato is a coachbuilding house and, like in the past, our creations need a brand. Currently we are developing concepts and within the next five years we’ll see many interesting automobiles being launched bearing the famous Z badge,” he added.

The aluminium coachwork on the 575 GTZ is a sublime work of rational modern design. No panel remains untouched, with the car body being completely custom-built from aluminium. Zagato’s last coachbuilt cars were based on Aston Martin DB7 and Vanquish platforms. With these cars, Aston Martin’s design chief at the time, Henrik Fisker, had a hand in creating the bodywork. “The Ferrari 575 GTZ is a 100% Zagato design, which is also very special. At Zagato we have around 15 designers who also work on product design. If one of the designers has a good idea on a car, then he can work it out.
 

"With the 575 GTZ, the first talks started about one year ago. The final car took around five months to construct in our workshops, but each successive car will take closer to two months to build. The first car is always the most difficult and demanding in terms of construction.”

The interior of the 575 GTZ remains largely based on the 575 M Maranello, however it has been exquisitely re-trimmed in custom leather. Technically the car remains the same as the standard 575 M, a requirement laid down by Ferrari for the car to carry the Prancing Horses badges.

“The Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza is an ideal event for the launch of this car. For a start, it is in Italy, in a beautiful setting and it’s outside under natural sunlight where the car looks the best and is the most photogenic. On top of everything else a lot of our potential customers have their eyes cast on this event.”

By James Granger