The Italia 2 began as an update design to the Italia Classic, inspired by many classic British & Italian sportscars of the 60s. It took on a life of its own, becoming an entirely fresh project and leaving behind the kit-based limitations of the original Italia. As with all cars built by Simpson Design, the Italia 2 was designed with the idea that no two cars in the series would be the same. Like the timeless sportscars that formed its inspiration, each Italia 2 would be specifically tailored to the owner's taste and performance requirements—totally bespoke and individually hand-crafted.
The initial Italia 2 prototype car was a convertible, but quickly spawned hard tonneau, hard top and two different coupe designs- one inspired by the famous Ferrari 275 GTB and the other by Princess Liliana Di Rethy of Belgium's custombuilt special-bodied Ferrari 330 GTC. These were appropriately titled the Italia 2 GTB and Italia 2 GTC. Currently only one Italia 2 GTB exists, built to a very high level of finish for an overseas client.
Building on its predecessor, the Italia 2 graduated to the second generation "NB" Mazda Miata platform for its chassis and mechanicals. The body was first sculpted in steel, then molded and produced in lightweight composite panels for the final production car. As is the case with many Simpson Design creations, the Italia 2 ended up lighter in weight and much quicker performing than the original platform car.
Another limited variation on the Italia 2 was the Italia 2 GTC- a coupe with an inward-curving rear window.