The Venturi Atlantique was a mid-engined

MR layout

In automotive design, a RMR or Rear Mid-engine, Rear-wheel drive layout is one in which the rear wheels are driven by an engine placed just in front of them, behind the passenger compartment. In contrast to the rear-engined RR layout, the center of mass of the engine is in front of the rear axle...

, fiberglass

Fiberglass

Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...

-bodied French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 sports car

Sports car

A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....

 produced by Venturi Automobiles from 1991 to 2000.

Atlantique 260

The original 260 was a revised version of the Venturi APC 260, carrying over the 2.8L turbocharged V6 engine with 260 hp, but with a reduced weight of 1110 kg (2,447.1 lb). It was good for a top speed of 167 miles per hour (268.8 km/h) and accelerated from 0-60 miles per hour (96.6 km/h) in 5.2 seconds.

Atlantique 300

Scotsman

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 Hubert O'Neill purchased Venturi in 1994 and conceived of the Venturi 400GT as well as a revised Atlantique. After a rushed design time of six months, the new Atlantique 300 was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show

Mondial de l'Automobile

The Paris Motor Show is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held around October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show was the first motor show in the world, started in 1898 by industry pioneer, Albert de Dion. The show...

. Its new 3.0 24V V6 engine was lifted from other Peugeot/Citroën

PSA Peugeot Citroën

PSA Peugeot Citroën is a French manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles sold under the Peugeot and Citroën marques. Headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA is the second largest automaker based in Europe and the number eight in the world.-History:In December 1974 Peugeot S.A....

 models and was good for 210 hp in naturally aspirated form or 281 hp with a turbocharger.

Venturi again went into receivership in 1996, and was bought by Thai

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 firm Nakarin Benz, under whom the company focused its concentration upon road cars. The biturbo

Twin-turbo

Twin-turbo refers to a turbocharged engine, in which two turbochargers compress the intake charge. There are two commonly used twin turbo configurations: parallel twin-turbo and sequential twin-turbo...

 version Atlantique 300 was released in 1998 and brought the power up to 310 hp. With a top speed of 171 miles per hour (275.2 km/h) and a 0-60 miles per hour (96.6 km/h) time of 4.9 seconds, this addition made the Atlantique a serious performance competitor to the Lotus Esprit V8.

Reception and fate

Sales of the Atlantique were extremely poor; total Venturi sales over its lifespan amounted to fewer than 700, despite praise from contemporary critics and from Top Gear. In a 1992 episode, Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...

 noted that the two most exciting sports cars of the time were the Alpine A610

Renault Alpine GTA/A610

The Alpine A610 was a coupe automobile produced by the Renault-owned French manufacturer Alpine. It was launched in 1991. Due to a limited budget at the beginning of the project, its appearance does not differ much from the GTA, and it looks quite similar to the USA GTA with its pop-up headlights...

 and the Venturi Atlantique, and that the Atlantique was "like having your own personal jet fighter [...] I love it to death." In comparing the biturbo Atlantique and the Lotus Esprit, Performance Car noted that the Atlantique was "[...] a more relaxing car to drive, its tidier dimensions make it easier to place, it rides more smoothly, generates far less road noise, and has a much slicker gearchange. It's better built too."

Venturi again faced bankruptcy in 2000, and the Atlantique went out of production. Although current owner Gildo Pallanca Pastor, a Monegasque

Monaco

Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

 millionaire, has resumed production of Venturi cars, he has shifted the emphasis to electric sports cars such as the Venturi Fétish

Venturi Fetish

The Venturi Fétish is the world's first two-seater electric sports car . It is produced by Venturi in Monaco, and the futuristic design of the car was done by the Parisian designers Sacha Lakic. The Fétish was first introduced in concept form at the 2002 Salon International de l'Auto...

, retiring the Atlantique badge. Company production will be even more limited at 10 units per year.