Coming hot on the heels of the announcement of the Genesis Vision Gran Turismo unveiling at the Gran Turismo World Final this coming weekend, we now have news of a second VGT that will share the stage — from luxury fashion brand Bulgari.
2023 of course marks the tenth anniversary of the Vision Gran Turismo program, which officially launched in 2013 with the Mercedes-AMG Vision GT in Gran Turismo 6. The World Final will celebrate the landmark with a special event space at the finals venue — the Fira Internacional de Barcelona convention center — and now, it seems, the launch of two new cars.
While the first may have been expected, as Genesis originally teased the car back in September 2022, it’s pretty unlikely that the second was on anyone’s radar as Bulgari’s connection with the automotive sphere is somewhat tenuous.
The brand, best known as a high-fashion jewellery house, has previously only linked up with motoring through special edition watches — such as the Bulgari Octo Maserati GranSport/GranLusso — and designing its own interpretation of the FIAT 500e, called the B.500 by Bulgari Mai Troppo.
This Vision GT then will be its first foray into automotive design, and while we don’t see the whole thing in the 30-second teaser video there’s more than a few hints to the car’s overall look.
Perhaps the best single glimpse we get is the profile view, which shows an open cockpit design with a rear roll hoop and an extensive glass surround. It seems like a pretty aggressive wedge shape, quite reminiscent of some of the Bertone-styled Italian concepts of the 1970s — which makes us think of the Bertone VGT we never got to see due to the company’s insolvency.
There’s a couple of additional exterior angles teasing the overall look of the car too. The four wheels all look to be housed in bulbous but integral pods and don’t appear to be enclosed.
At the front we can see 11 headlights in a cutout section of the plunging nose, just above the “BVLGARI” wordmark. A glance at the side hints at a door but also shows the word “Aluminium”, which is a name Bulgari uses on products made from the material and which it’s also suggesting is part of the car’s name on the company’s own micro-site.
The teaser is also pretty heavy on the watch motif, and that’s unsurprising as the car looks like it will be accompanied by special edition “BVLGARI Aluminium x Gran Turismo” watches. Given that Bulgari Aluminium watches start at around $4000, we’re not expecting these to be particularly attainable — although we suspect they may be awarded to the players who stand on the podium this coming weekend.
At this early stage, we don’t know what will power the car or anything about its vital statistics (aside from a likely 1,000,000cr price in the game), but we’re expecting more information to come when the car is officially unveiled on December 3.
GTPlanet will be at the World Final for this and any other news which emerges from the event.
See more articles on Bulgari and Vision Gran Turismo.
