Organised by Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) in collaboration with q.media and GL events and sponsored by HE Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al Thani, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, the Qatar Motor Show saw many concept cars, super cars, prototypes and special coachbuilt bodies on display for the first time in a country which is one of the most important markets in the world for luxury and sports cars and unique one-offs.

Arguably the real stars of the motor show were the cars conceived, designed and built by a group of Italian companies which represent excellence in the sector: Autostudi, Bertone, Castagna, Fioravanti, Pininfarina, Prototipo, Salt, Spada and Touring Superleggera.

Autostudi

Turin-based Autostudi presented the world preview of restyling of its C-Sport concept in Qatar. The C-Sport seeks to be an innovative sports car of the highest level with clean sinuous lines, projecting itself as a luxury toy-car. The car is young and dynamic with a spirited soul - ready to promise surprising performance, claims Autostudi. "We decided to take part with our Italian designer colleagues at the Qatar Motor Show," says Carlo Angiono, Managing Director of Autostudi. “We look forward to encountering a new market in which we can express the creativity of Autostudi in luxury cars and, why not, be the ones to build the next one-off for the Qatar clientele.”

Bertone

Bertone, founded in 1912, one of the oldest and most prestigious Italian firms in the car sector, presented its Pandion, a futuristic coupè first shown at the Geneva Motor Show last year which was dedicated to the occasion in 2010 of 100 years of Alfa Romeo's history. It is fitted an 8-cylinder 4.2 litre Maserati-sourced engine producing 444 HP. The Pandion thus immediately takes its place in the rich historical family of Bertone-designed Alfa Romeos. “The Bertone Pandion," says Sandro Colella, Bertone General Manager, "is a supercar which combines the aggressive style of a sports car with spectacular construction solutions, with the doors hinged in ‘inverse elytron’ manner on the rear wheel boxes. All this is crowned by powerful engineering: an 8-cylinder V engine, 4.7 litres and 450 HP of Maserati derivation which provides unique driving thrills. The Pandion is an exceptional product, a solitaire that confirms Bertone as one of the great names of Italian-made cars, but also one of Italy's outstanding brands in terms of lifestyle, as worldwide leader in the luxury market.”

Fioravanti

Most recently, in 2008, Italian design concern Fioravanti hit the headlines with the one-off Ferrari SP1, the latest in a history of one-off and concept projects. Fioravanti showed off its skills by presenting a slightly older and very well received project, the dramatic F100r, at the Qatar Motor Show. This is an open roadster, conceived with the aim of creating an open car with the maximum comfort thanks to an innovative multi-sphere widescreen designed aerodynamically to generate air flows which protects the passengers' heads by being reattached at the rear. Leonardo Fioravanti, CEO, noted: "The Middle East is an area of great potential and there are many collectors with a marked passion for one-offs, a sector in which we recently began to specialise with the presentation of the Ferrari SP1 in the Italian Competition at Monterey in California, a car designed by Fioravanti for a Japanese collector which won the Best of Show prize.”

Castagna

Carrozzeria Castagna, first established in 1849 and much more recently raised from the ashes, is an automobile atelier that today produces over thirty unique cars per year for customers in many countries across the world. And like in the past, Castagna has an in-house school where it transmits all its knowledge and experience of the past to build a future of excellence. Its proprietor, Gioacchino Acampora, states: "Castagna has been present in the Middle East with its own custom-built cars since 1922. In 1932, His Majesty King Saud Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud visited the Castagna stand during the Salone dell’Automobile in Milan and bought two Isotta Fraschini cars with our bodywork. Today this market has customers of great automobile passion and culture, great connoisseurs who not only buy very expensive and powerful cars but, if necessary, create them from square one, realizing their dreams with the help of our atelier. From our special 500 program we're pleased to showcase here a small, tasteful one-off Fiat 500, part of our worldwide collection known as Beach Tender, called Tender2 by Castagna Milano. The car can feature also hybrid or full electric engine, and, of course any other kind of option as with all of our creations."

Pininfarina

In Qatar Pininfarina presented the Nido, easily the most recognisable of the clutch of stylish concepts on show, a project which the legendary design house rethought the methodology of the car design process. The result was a highly innovative concept which re-examined the area of the safety of small cars. The aim of this two-seater is to increase both the internal and external safety of the occupants. “We are proud to be present at the first international edition of the Qatar Motor Show,” comments Silvio Pietro Angori, CEO of Pininfarina. “A concept like the Nido perfectly embodies our mission - that of ‘dressing’ technology.” The clean lines and harmonious forms won the Nido the Most Beautiful Automobile in the World award, the 2008 Compasso d’Oro (Golden Compass), and its exhibition in the temple of modern art: the MOMA in New York. Angori continued: “Nido is also a research laboratory on the issue of safety, and as early as 2004 it gave rise to an electric version, the Nido EV, which we presented this year in order to testify to our commitment to sustainable mobility.”

Salt

Specialising in car interiors and with a reputation for superior and elegant leather work, Salt has developed its commitment in research and experimentation. Today it designs and builds prototypes of every kind, and is in the front line in the sector focused on fitting out interiors for luxury cars and aircraft. In Qatar, Salt showcased the RK Coupè, a project that combined the preparation of a RUF engine on a Cayman base. The RK Coupè is an example of the customisation that Salt can create for its customers, both with the bodywork and the interiors where Salt expresses the best in the precision and refinement of every detail. Pierfranco Gavina, CEO, declared: "We are certain that in the coming years the Middle East, Chinese and Russian markets will be in rapid development for the car sector and this provides a significant opportunity that Italian car designers must grasp. At the Qatar Motor Show we [presented] our experience which has been matured now for over forty years and enables us to meet all the customization requests which characterize the Middle East market."

Spada

Spaconcept is a design studio which works in every stage of the resulting process, from the design to the prototyping of cars and motorcycles, to industrial design - including helmets and motorcycles - as well as having a marketing consultancy. At the Qatar Motor Show, the company presented its dramatic Corvette-based Spada TS Codatronca, a product which rejects the exasperated search for performance records at all costs. Instead focusing on increasing power, Spadaconcept has preferred to work to maximise the performance of the already installed power, introducing evolved aerodynamic forms and a light and essential structure, thereby obtaining an extremely stable and manageable car, which is capable of achieving racetrack performance with the maximum exploitation of the engine power of over 630 HP. Paolo Spada, CEO, declares: "The Qatar Motor Show certainly represents a great opportunity for tackling a receptive market as regards niche products and joint investments. A market where craftsmanship, linked with Italian design, attracts a very attentive clientele."

Touring Superleggera

Touring Superleggera is another famous historical name to have been recently been brought back from the dead. It was first established in Milan in 1926 and created masterpieces such as the Ferrari 166 and the Aston Martin DB 4/5. For the very first time for the Middle East, Touring Superleggera introduced its Bentley Continental Flying Star, a high-performance shooting brake. This limited edition supercar is custom built on order: nineteen examples at the most will be built, the company says, two are already on the road in Europe. It is built in Milan under the supervision of Bentley Motors for engineering and quality which guarantees sales and support. Blending advanced engineering with four thousand hours of highly skilled hand work, the Continental Flying Star features a servo-controlled boot lid, a two meter long versatile luggage compartment and a staggering 560 to 630 PS W12 engine on permanent all-wheel drive. Piero Mancardi, CEO, says: "The Middle East Market is ideal for our products. The public in these countries appreciates the exclusive quality, the value of traditions, the preciousness of the work and the unmistakeable style, all specific values of our marque. In this sense, the encounter between Italian style and the technological perfection of Bentley offers an ideal product."

Prototipo

Prototipo Group was the final Italian company present at the Qatar Motor Show; it didn't show a vehicle though, rather it detailed the Nardò Technical Center, one of the most complete and active proving grounds and experimentation centres in the sphere of automobile testing. For all car enthusiasts and high-speed fans, the famous "Nardò ring” is a “temple” frequented by not only the most powerful and fastest supercars, but also by motorcycles and prototypes created specifically to establish new international and world duration records. The extraordinary proving ground is located in Southern Italy in the area known as Salento Leccese and is accustomed to hosting technical teams, engineers, and pilots involved in running many kilometres on tracks designed for development tests 24/7 on 363 days a year. Amidst olive trees and just a few hundred metres from the beaches, all types and categories of vehicles on two and four wheels, and even trucks, can travel uninterruptedly on the perfectly circular 12.6 km track, exploiting the incline of the track to speed along as if they were on an infinite straightaway, with no appreciable correction in the steering required up to speeds of 240km/h.