The Dream Factory

Call up the factory of Ares Design in Modena, Italy, ask to speak to its founder and CEO, Dany Bahar, and you may be surprised at where you are transferred to. “I live in Dubai,” laughs Bahar through his Swiss accent. “I’ve been out here for around six years now with my family, and I go back and forth between Dubai and Italy. At the weekend or for holidays, this is usually where I am.” But there are clear reminders for Bahar all over the city that he has a business to run, to make sure he doesn’t get too relaxed – for example, the Ares Design showroom on Sheikh Zayed Road, with another due to open shortly in DIFC. In fact, with so many different timezones to check in with, he probably doesn’t get much of a break at all. “We’ll be opening shortly in Los Angeles, Miami and Monte Carlo,” Bahar reveals. “But Dubai, Munich and, of course, Modena, are all open already.” Not bad for a coachbuilding company that was only founded in 2014, with January this year marking the official opening of the Modena location.

Now there is no stopping Bahar and his team, with customers bringing their high-end cars to Ares Design for specific styling and performance enhancements. It helps that Bahar himself has a lot of experience in the motoring industry, with the Turkishborn businessman previously working at Red Bull, initiating its involvement in Formula 1, before moving to Ferrari (also based in Modena) and from 2009, serving as the CEO for Lotus. Clearly Bahar had been looking for a change, wanting to strike out on his own rather than continue to work for established brands. “I’ve always wanted to be part of an entrepreneurial project,” he says, “and when I convinced some of the incredible and flamboyant people I knew in Dubai to be partners and shareholders – and who are always trying to jump the queue to get me to work on their own creations – it became something very satisfying. Nobody has ever attempted coachbuilding on this scale or to these standards before. Why? Maybe they felt it was too difficult or expensive. But to be honest, I think we underestimated the demand – a lot of people want their own oneoff cars, and there is a real passion for this level of personalisation.”

Modena was the necessary base for what Bahar had in mind. “A lot of car-related companies are based there already, serving the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati, so in terms of finding the skilled workers and suppliers, it has everything,” he says. Another physical factor was the building chosen to become the stateof-the-art Ares Design factory – an old Fiat showroom. Does Bahar see a symbolic connection in taking something from an established manufacturer and adding his own improvements? “What we have now is a factory, not a dealership, so it isn’t really comparable,” he says.

“It was a brick building, now it’s a hypermodern structure. We’ve added many different departments, machinery, tools and staff – everything we need to be self-sufficient, from the carbon-fibre manufacturing to the milling machines that produce the final parts, plus the design studios, 3D printers, paint booths, and so on. We have everything you need to manufacture your own car from scratch without any external help.” Bahar currently employs 128 staff, which alone puts it in a different league when compared to other coachbuilders. “I think we’re more industrialised and modern,” he says. “We have procedures and processes, just like a proper car manufacturer. We’re not small-scale, based in a backyard somewhere with five staff, working on only one type of car. If you visit our premises, it’s all transparent, white and clean, like a Formula 1 factory or a laboratory. When a customer comes to us for the first time, they don’t feel the need to ask about capability, credibility or quality, as what they see convinces them. “Also, we don’t just focus on one model, we work on a variety, designed by us or even, in some cases, the customer – they can have their own ideas included in the car. I don’t see anyone else allowing that flexibility.”

That said, there are certain cars that have passed through the Ares Design workshops that have become headline projects – singled out as a measure of what the company can do, and potentially replicate for other customers. The first was the Ares X-Raid, a radically reworked Mercedes G63 SUV, featuring a lighter carbon-fibre and aluminium body, with a 760bhp 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 engine. Another was the Ares Corvette Stingray, taking the body of a classic 1964 model, but fitting it with the performance and technology of a 2017 version. On the way is ‘Project Panther’, which has a bespoke coach-built body inspired by a 1970s Argentinian sports car, the De Tomaso Pantera, placed over the inner workings of a modern Lamborghini Huracán. These examples help guide the customer, who can then see the potential for their own vehicle. “The needs and ideas of the customer vary, and there is no one-size-fitsall solution,” says Bahar. “But it’s a very emotive, personal process, and I think that makes it different to the rest of the motoring industry.” It also makes Bahar confident about the future. “We build around 100 cars a year now, and we’re booked up until September,” he reveals. “We’re always trying to increase the size of our factory, adding something else, with new machinery and departments. Our factory is 18,000 square metres, but already it feels like we’re short on space, so we’ll keep expanding in line with our needs. Ultimately, we want to make this market more accessible, and not just for the lucky few who can afford it.” So with that in mind, and a stateof-the-art company at his fingertips, what does Bahar drive when in Dubai? A modernised classic or a modified SUV, perhaps? “Oh no, just a regular Mercedes G-Class,” he says, laughing through his Swiss accent one more time. “It’s a big car, it moves well, and in Dubai I find it’s just what I need.”

WORDS : CHRIS ANDERSON