It feels like it’s only going to be a few short years before we’re inundated with all-electric high-performance sports cars from minor to major automakers. As it is, we’ve been waiting for this promise to come true for some time now, as is the case with the 1992 Bertone Blitz.
The Blitz was one of the weirder interpretations of what an EV sports car should look like.
Ultra pared-back, fully open with no roof, scissor doors, and offset seating. The closest analog to it in a production car was the 261-mpg Volkswagen XL1, which had the same basic layout, but with a roof and a diesel-hybrid drivetrain.
The specs for the Blitz area little bit less than impressive in today’s world of thousand-horsepower Teslas and Rimacs and, if I’m going to guess, probably some Porsche in about five years.
The trick to the Blitz was low weight: Bertone claimed just 1430 lbs (650 kilos, 260 of which were the batteries). Power was meager: two 36-horsepower electric motors. Did one motor power the front axle and the other the rear? Did each one work on its own rear wheel? I do not know. I can’t find any detailed specs on the car, other than that it did 0-62 mph in six seconds.
A couple examples were produced, both of which had that incredible two-tiered design like the Fiat Multipla. Do I understand this car? No. Do I love it? Extremely yes.
What sounds funny today is how Bertone pitched the car, all the way back in 1992 at the Turin International Motor Show, per AllCarIndex:
ZEVs are round the corner! By the year 2000 we could all have one. They aren’t people from outer space as someone might think, they’re Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) which sooner of later will become a part of our life. Growing environmental concern (pollution, waste, ending resources) is pushing Governments and Automakers to view the theme of individual mobility under a new light. BLITZ is being brought forward by BERTONE to make ZEVs more exciting and attractive. BLITZ and impeccable project in form and dunction. BERTONE is ahead of the time with its sights set on future.
Indeed, the Blitz was ahead of its time. The only question that remains is how far.