The Lele, a spirited four-seater coupe, has the rekish sports car styling and feel associated with the finest Italian products. In the words of racing driver Emerson Fittipaldi, who tested the Lele for the prestigious Italian auto magazine "Quattroruote," it has sportscar feel and, at the same time, seems roomy and comfortable."

The Lele is powered by an eight-cylinder Cobra Jet engine. It has four-wheel disc brakes and De Dion suspension. Flat out it can travel at 155 miles per hour. Standars equipment includes air conditioning, power steering, stereo radio and adjustable steering wheel.

Two-plus-two passenger version of the Lele is the Lele Sport, maximum-speed of which is 170 m/h, and which has all the sleek shape and luxuious appointments of one of the world's finest high-performance cars.

Rounding out the Iso line are the Grifo ( a two seater) and the Fidia ( a four door model ) -- both driven with the same Cobra Jet engine as the Lele and the Lele Sport. Both come with the same standard equipment as the other cars in the line and both are similarly handcrafted.

The Fidia has been called by a leading car authority " The most luxurious four door touring automobile in the world."

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Until now, Americans have had practically no chance to see or drive the Iso. Ninety-five per cent of the company's production had been for export but, because of existing distribution patterns, the product was going to Great Britain and Germany, for the most part.

Then last year, an enterprising Italian businessman with strong links to American business took over the Iso operation and immediately saw an opportunity:

"We know that there is a total market for luxery cars in the US of 30.000," says Iso's new president, Ivo Pera. "We'd like to sell 300 cars in America in 1974."

Iso has its origins in a company called Iso-Thermos founded by Renzo Rivolta in Varedo 1939. Its first product was a far cry from the beautifully-sculpted auto bodies in its future: heating units and refrigerators.

In 1949, the company came out with its first vehicle, a motor scooter which had a degree of success in Itay at that time. The year 1953 saw the debut of one of the most unusual vehicles ever to appear on a road anywhere -- the Isetta. In its first incarnation, the Isetta was a three-wheeled midget automobile -- so small and light it could literally be lifted aside if it were blocking someone's way. Later, the Isetta sprouted four wheels.

The Isetta was capable of hitiing 53 miles an hour and was perfect means of getting around crowded cities. In fact, it was far ahead of its time in characteristics like gas consumption (low), size (tiny) and emission of pollutants (dramatically lower than standard cars). It had a bigger success in other European countries than it did in Italy and finally a licence to built Isettas in Germany was sold to BMW.

Starting in 1963, Iso got into serious production of handcrafted, luxery sports cars and sedans. For the first several years, each car was powered with an eight-cylinder Chevrolet Corvette engine. Changeover to the eight-cylinder Cobra Jet engine was made in 1972.

At the 1974 International Imported Automobile Show at New York's Coliseum, Iso is showning four new cars: the Lele, the Lele Sport and the Grifo -- all two door sports cars -- and the Fidia, a four door sedan. All come with such good things as electronic injection, power lock differential, air conditioning and luxery fittings.

Dr. Pera is bullish on Iso. "The US market has been totally ignored by Iso so far," he says. "Starting now, we're going after our share of it. Out cars stack up quite well with the competition in every area -- speed, comfort, maneuverability, price, appearance and, yes, gas consumption."

The Iso Motor Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Iso Industries. Offices of Iso Industries are located at 44 East 65th Street, New York, New York.

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He is Dr. Ivo D. Pera, a 46-year-old international business tycoon who shuns publicity, carries his business around "in his head" and has his European headquarters in Milan in a small office with no airconditioning -- even though he owns an air conditioning company.

The tall, quiet, dark-heared Dr. Pera, who has his doctorate in economics, flies the ocean regularly between the Milan and New York offices of Iso Industries Corp. at 44 East 65th Street. Yet, while he has logged more flying time than many other top executives, he prefers to take trains when possible.

Dr. Pera started the Pera trading Company at the age of 21. Four years later, Dr. Pera was a millionaire -- three million dollars to be exact.

Pera Trading Company, of Livorno, Italy, was formed to buy and recondition surplus US Army equipment -- especially for earth moving. It is now one of the largest firms dealing in new and reconditioned construction equipment, with affiliated companies in Frankfurt, London, New York and Tokyo. Dr. Pera has interests in many different and varied fields, ranging from Iso Industries to an oil refinery in Sardinia, as well as a number of US-based operations.

Iso's trademark is "ieri, oggi, domani" Italian for "yesterday, today and tomorrow." It fits the low-profile tycoon's often-expressed philosophy of "yesterday is over, today isn't standing still and tomorrow depends largely on what we do today."

Today, Dr. Pera is doing something that will certainly affect his company tomorrow. He is introducing to the cost-conscious, gasoline-shy public four models of hand-tooled, handcrafred automobiles that will aell for between $20.000 and $30.000.

Dr. Pera's surveys show that there is a US market each year for 30.000 luxury cars -- price and other factors notwithstanding. Dr. Pera believes that this market has not been exploited mainly because lack of understanding by dealers on the techniques of importing and distributing foreign cars.

Now that Iso has an American base, Dr. Pera feels that the importing and disrtibuting problems can be overcome. And because the luxury automoblie market has not been properly tapped there is plenty of room for the Iso models.

Dr. Pera expects to sell 300 Iso autos in the US this year and up to 500 next year. Annual sales of 2.000 cars are expected by the end of the decade. It may seen like a bog gamble to many people. But Dr. Pera has built his company through expertise rather than gamble and there's every reason, based on Pera history, to believe introduction of the Iso to the US market will fulfill and perhaps exceed expectations.

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