It’s been a while since we last heard about South Africa’s Perana Z-One supercar, the luxurious Zagato-designed coachbuilt two-door powered by a GM LS V-8. We can now confirm that the Perana Z-One is in full production and U.S. order books are now open so the first deliveries should be starting very soon.

The Z-One’s U.S. distributor, Superformance, only plans to bring in 99 units per year, ensuring the car’s exclusivity. If you missed its debut at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, the Perana Z-One is a handcrafted grand tourer penned by Italian coachbuilder and design house Zagato and powered by a GM sourced LS V-8.

The car is the result of a vision born in the hearts of a collection of motoring enthusiasts who formed the Perana Performance Group and collaborated with Zagato and South African specialty car builder HI Tech to bring the project to fruition.

Its design is all about returning to driving fundamentals. That means a lack of electronic driving aids, a conventional six-speed manual gearbox, and a lightweight tubular and box section chassis that ensures a favorable 50/50 weight distribution.

Mounted up front is a 6.2-liter LS3 V-8 outputting 443 horsepower and sending drive to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox and ZF limited slip differential. Customers seeking more power can always opt for a 505 horsepower LS7 V-8--yes the same 7.0-liter engine from the Corvette Z06.

Expect 0-60 mph times of less than 4.0 seconds and a 0-100 mph time of under 10 seconds.

Customers can also opt for a special Perana Z-One time piece from the David Yurman collection.

We’re glad that this was one project car that managed to make it from concept to reality in very little time. Incidentally, this isn’t the only Zagato-designed beauty we’ll be seeing this year. Aston Martin and the legendary Italian design house recently announced plans for a range of new models, the first of which you can read about by clicking here.

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