The Vampire Car from Skoda Comes Back to Life

Skoda brings back life to one of its most astonishing creations, a star of Czech horror cinema, the Ferat.

Born in the early 1980s for the needs of a Czech horror film, the Vampire of Ferat, this unique car returns today in a futuristic form, yet faithful to the strange and unsettling aura of the original.

At the time, the Ferat was a radical transformation of the Skoda 110 Super Sport prototype, a sporty coupe designed in 1971. The painter and costume designer Theodor Pištěk, who would later win an Oscar for Amadeus, transformed it for the cinema. Black bodywork, redesigned front headlights, imposing rear wing, and a screen presence as menacing as it was fascinating. Under its hood, a modest 1.1-litre engine with 60 horsepower, but performance was not what mattered. The Ferat was a movie star, a “living” car that fed off the blood of its driver.

Forty years later, two Czech designers, Giuseppe Campo (exterior) and Stanislav Sabo (interior), passionate about photography and pure forms, wanted to pay homage to it. Rather than a simple modernization, they sought to capture the very essence of the Ferat, its dark atmosphere, its unsettling, almost supernatural side.

When designers indulge

Their version retains several distinctive features: a windscreen and roof that open as a single piece, red accents that contrast the black silhouette, an aggressive look at the front, and a low posture, always ready to pounce. Inside, no more doors, but a closed, enveloping cabin, almost claustrophobic, as if to trap the driver. A glowing red band runs along the central tunnel, signaling this time not a thirst for blood, but the level of electric charge. For yes, the new Ferat runs on electricity, it no longer kills, it plugs in.

The seats merge with the vehicle’s structure, as if you were entering a machine, not a car. There are even a few nostalgic nods, like the oval buttons from the period. The famous rear wing has disappeared, replaced by two side spoilers, more aerodynamic yet equally theatrical.

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