British independent carmaker behind the Atom and Nomad has just revealed a new supercar that has a design that is very detached from its previous offerings. The car’s name, Hipercar, stands for High-Performance Carbon Reduction, and oh, also, it is the marque’s first electric vehicle.
Aesthetically, the Ariel Hipercar looks like an aggressively racked-back Toyota Supra but dressed in exaggerated aeros like an armored suit. In fact, the front kind of reminds us of Evangelion Unit 02 with its four headlamps and foglights, and aggressive nose.
It is a battery electric vehicle that is powered by a 290 HP and 332 lb-ft (450 Nm) APM electric motor… on each wheel (!?). The electric motors are juiced by a Cosworth-supplied liquid-cooled 62 kWh battery pack that runs on an 800-volt architecture.
There is an option for rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. All told, the all-wheel-drive model would have 1,163 horsepower, putting it firmly in the hypercar territory. According to R&T, it has AWD variant has 1,327 lb-ft (1,799 Nm) of torque. The rear-wheel-drive version will have 581 horses and 664 lb-ft (900 Nm).
While the numbers are impressive, it is not what turns heads. It is the optional range extender. And not just any range extender, mind you. Ariel will provide you with a Cosworth CatGen turbine engine as a range extender should you want one.
The turbine, which is said to make 47 hp, will charge the batteries when activated. And no, there’s no fire-spewing afterburner like on a Batmobile. That said, the car you see here, which is the first production-intent prototype, does kind of look like it could be a Batmobile. Come to think about it, Hipercar looks kind of like the McMurtry Spéirling, doesn’t it?
Images: Ariel Motor Company.
via Road & Track.
