Limited edition Skoda-inspired supercar breaks cover

THE world’s newest supercar technically does not belong to a manufacturer, but it features the DNA of at least three, including Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini.

The R200 Non Fiction is the brainchild of Czech designer and Skoda fan Petr Novague, and Marek Hoffmann, chief executive officer of automotive manufacturing firm Metal Hoffmann. It is inspired by the rear-engined Skoda 130RS rally car from the mid-1970s.

The car is part of an art installation currently being displayed at The DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague until May 11.

“The Skoda 130 RS is an automobile one need not write or talk about, or put on a pedestal as something legendary,” said Mr Novague on his website. “It simply is a true Czechoslovak legend, and its choice as the starting point for our first car was a natural one.”

Based on the series one Audi R8 V10’s alloy floorpan and all-wheel-drive running gear, Mr Novague – who has a history in repurposing classic sportscars like the Porsche 911 and Ferrari Daytona – used other VW Group parts to complement the build, including Bentley Continental GT head-lights and Lamborghini Gallardo tail-lightsThe aluminium coachwork took eighteen months to design and conceive, and is manufactured to modern standards at the Metal Hoffman plant in Nova Dedina, Czech Republic. The company’s customers currently include Bentley, Daimler, Opel, Audi, Ford, Volkswagen and Volvo.

While large exterior pieces like the windscreen, side glasses and rims are recognisable as being from the mid-engined 386kW R8, along with elements from the interior, much of the R200 has been hand-built.

Carbon-fibre door cards with nylon pull-straps pay homage to the car’s sporting origins, while the rest of the interior is largely bespoke, save for the instrument binnacle.

A production run of 24 cars is planned, but it’s unknown whether the R200 will be built from a potential customer’s existing R8, or constructed completely from scratch. The second-generation R8 will be launched in Europe in June.

In 2010, a similar project was revealed, with a modern Pininfarina-designed iteration of the 1970s Lancia Stratos body grafted onto a Ferrari 430 platform.

The brainchild of Michael Stoschek – owner of the Brose Group, suppliers of mechatronics (tailgate lifters, seat structures and the like) to the car industry – the project was abandoned after Ferrari refused to support the project, and even forbade its suppliers to assist.