Fornasari is at the Geneva Motor Show again this year with a stand once again crammed with its standard fare of huge, high performance, off-road vehicles, presenting the production-ready RR99, a new 3-door concept dubbed the RR66, as well as several niche vehicles. The Italian luxury SUV maker has turned a number of concepts and models from last year's show into reality as it expands its car range outwards in several directions.

Last year the RR99 was shown at the Swiss Palexpo as a mocked-up concept, this year it is in production trim ready to take its place as the brand's range-topper which, Fornasari believes, combines the aggressive looks of a GT car and the comfort of a luxury car with the ability of an off roader. It bursts with traditional Fornasari styling cues, such as vents to feed cooling air in and out of the front brakes. The longer wheel base (now 3.25 m, 25 cm longer that the RR600) increases enormously the comfort of the new SUV in respect to the model it is drawn from while the performance remains the same. The RR99 combines all the best bits of the RR600 and Gruppo B, the 2-door version, into an improved comfort package, says Fornasari.

The dimensions are mammoth: it is 5.20 metres long, 2.15 m wide and 1.85 m high and has a wheelbase is 3.25 m. The RR99 consists of a special steel piped chassis in molybdenum-chrome that means a real space-frame for the 5-seater. More than 450 pipelines are used in order to obtain the stiffness and torsion capability with a weight of less than 150 kg. The total weight of the RR99 comes out at 1850kg. The wishbones are equal on the four corners and suspension's travel of 240 mm has been studied so as not to affect or change in any extent the geometrical configuration as it had been set.

The size is important for the whole car: this is a real maxi SUV. Desert wheel-tracks, an American wheel-base, a remarkable height from the ground, a top-class maximum travel of suspension, ideal in/out angles, an ideal weight, power distribution on both axles as for a GT vehicle and load distribution near to 50/50. That's what will make this off-road vehicle most similar to a road vehicle. Power gets transmitted to the wheels by means of a central viscous joint releasing 60 percent to the back limited-slip differential, while leaving the 40 percent power left to balance the front differential. As far as the gearbox is concerned, either a Borg Warner six-speed manual or a Hydra-matic 6-speed automatic option is available to hook up to the 6-litre, 8-cylinder tuned GM engine which develops 610 CV at 6,000 rpm and 748 Nm of torque at 5,100 rpm. The result is a light but reliable all-aluminium unit mean the RR99's performance is the same as the RR600. (7.0-litre V8 with 610 bhp and 748 Nm). Also, it is possible to set on board a version with reduced gears but such a solution compels a less sporting scheme of the transmission. Brakes are sourced from GM as well with customers given the option of specifying Brembo ones. Alloy rims are, in alternative, of 18" to 20" or even 23" in size and they can host tyres from the 285/55/18" up to the 305/35/23". Performance is impressive: top speed is 280 km/h, 0-100 km/h is achieved in 3.8 seconds and the standing kilometre in 23 seconds.