You never know what to expect from Pierpaolo Lazzarini, in some ways the wild child of Italian design, in others unashamedly commercial. One day he'll present a remarkably graceful, totally practical 55-seater bus design for a Chinese truck company, the next he comes up with something like this: A Fiat 500 with Ferrari V8 engine.
No, we're not kidding.
So, how do you get a 4.5-litre V8 into a Topolino chassis? Easy; take out the boot and the rear seat. Like the Renault Clio V6, the 550 Italia is mid-engined and rear-wheel driven - but that's where the resemblance ends.
The 550 Italia has the engine, transmission and transaxle from a Ferrari 458, slightly detuned from 425kW to 405; apparently the full-monty version would be less than stable during fast gearshifts.
The Fiat's wheelbase has been stretched by 300mm to 2600mm.
The fuel tank is now where the original engine used to be, just behind the 458 radiator, and there's additional ballast under the front and centre of the (reinforced) chassis to bring the car's kerb weight up to 1000kg.
The original Fiat 500 body wears a complete aero kit with new bumpers, skirts, big wheel-arch flares and a Subaru-style biplane spoiler. A roof scoop and two air intakes just ahead of the rear wheel-arches provide essential coolth for the transmission, differential and brakes.
The renderings you see here are finished in sky blue as a tribute to the Italian national soccer team, currently playing in the 2012 European Cup, with the interior trim in the red, white and green of the Italian flag.
So far the 550 Italia exists only in Pierpaolo Lazzarini's computer. He's looking for an enthusiast with $550,000 (R4.65 million), to fund the development and building of a prototype.