23.02.2004 ITALDESIGN WILL UNVEIL THE HYBRID POWERED VOLTA COUPE CONCEPT IN GENEVA

With the hybrid powered coupe Alessandro Volta, Fabrizio Giugiaro wanted to demonstrate that “green” power plants can also be a high performance car.

Toyota provided to Italdesign-Giugiaro its latest hybrid power plant, the one to be used into the Lexus RX400. Italdesign-Giugiaro created a specific carbon fibre chassis for this 4.3-meter long coupe.

The car is named after Alessandro Volta, the Italian scientist who discovered the battery.

As the V6 3.3 litre engine is mounted near to the rear axle, there are no transmission shafts, nor exhaust tubes which need a central tunnel in the car. Consequently, the flat floor permitted Italdesign to house three passengers in a coupe which is slightly narrower than 2 meters.

Thanks to the combination of the internal combustion engine and of two electric motors, one for each axle, the Volta has a total output of 300 Kw / 408 hp, reaches 250 kph of top speed and accelerates from 0 to 100 kph in 4.06 seconds. But probably its most striking performance is the ability to cover 700 kms with a 52-liters gasoline tank.