02:18 08-05-2026

Italians Build a Wild K39 for the Clouds — and Rewrite Their Own Rulebook

Italian boutique builder Kimera Automobili reveals K39 at Lake Como — a hill-climb racer for Pikes Peak and a tamer road car, ditching the EVO37 four-cylinder for a V6 or V8.

Kimera Automobili made its name on Lancia-flavoured restomods, but the next project pushes the brand well beyond its familiar formula. The new K39 will premiere at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on Lake Como — and it’s far more than just another pretty take on a classic.

The Italian outfit has been working on the K39 for over two years. The car was first teased back in 2024 with a series of photoreal renders — and at that point, the company was already talking about taking it up the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The schedule slipped, but the idea didn’t: Kimera now says the racing version will be ready for the climb next year.

Two variants will roll into Villa d’Este. The first is an extreme hill-climb machine, the second a more restrained road-going model. Though «restrained» is relative here: it already wears a pronounced front splitter, large hood vents, louvres above the front wheels and a sizeable rear wing.

The race-spec K39 will look even meaner. Going by the teasers, it gets a much bigger front splitter, a roof scoop to feed cool air to the engine, and a towering rear wing. On Pikes Peak none of that is decoration: the climb demands downforce, cooling and stability, because up there speed is fighting not only the tarmac but the altitude itself.

The biggest change is hidden under the body. The previous EVO37 and EVO38 relied on a 2.1-litre four-cylinder with combined turbo and supercharging. The K39 won’t use that engine. Kimera is hinting at a V6 or a meatier V8 — which suggests the new project is meant to move beyond old-school revivalism into something more serious in both output and character.

For Kimera this is a risky but logical step. The brand has already proven it can do justice to Lancia’s legacy. Now it needs to show it can live on more than nostalgia. The K39 looks like exactly that move: less museum-piece romance, more aerodynamics, power and proper mountain attitude.