A day after we heard the rumor Ariel was building an electric supercar with more than 1000 horsepower, the company confirmed its existence and basically every rumored statistic. It doesn’t have an official name yet, but Ariel has bestowed it with the working title of Hipercar, which reportedly stands for “High-Performance Carbon Reduction.”
It will use four small motors at each wheel producing a total of 1180 hp and 1330 pound-feet of torque that will get it to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds on the way to a 160-mph top speed. That’s just for the all-wheel-drive version. The two-wheel-drive version, since it has two fewer motors, will have 590 hp and 665 lb-ft of torque. The motors are supplied by either a 42-kWh or 56-kWh battery, with a 35-kW gasoline micro-turbine engine serving as a range extender.
The Hipercar, unlike the Atom and the Nomad, will be a closed car. From the renderings, it should be a radical-looking machine, with angular body panels, fins, wings, diffusers and scowling headlights. It also will have gullwing doors, which appear to be a necessity looking at the prototype chassis and its extremely high sills. The body will cover an aluminum chassis and suspension. Ariel hasn’t officially provided a curb weight, but the previous rumor stated it would weigh about 3,500 pounds. Everything will also sit on wide 265-mm tires up front and 295-mm tires in the back.
Ariel also revealed its product rollout plans. The prototype chassis will be on display at the Low Carbon Vehicle Show in Millbrook, England, and the reveal of the full car will come in 2019. It will then go on sale in 2020. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the company revealed it won’t be cheap.
“It will be an expensive car because of the technology involved,” said Simon Saunders of Ariel. “But when compared to £1 million-plus supercars, which it will outperform, it’s going to represent excellent value for money.”
We can’t wait to see more of this thing.
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