I’m going to be honest. I’m having a hard time staring straight at newest performance vehicle, the Hipercar. There’s a a lot going on. But whether or not you can swallow the styling, you can’t argue with performance claims Ariel is making.
The Hipercar has been in the works for a while. It was . Ariel was shouting the same performance claims then, but we didn’t know what the car actually looked like. The only thing that was shown was a rolling chassis with a roll cage and a turbine with some batteries bolted onto the back of it. Now we know what it looks like it, and it’s a lot to take in.
There are blades and wings and spoilers everywhere. Out back, it almost looks like some sort of aircraft, with SR-71 Blackbird-like wings and a single exhaust exit for its turbine range extender with four cooling fans sitting below that.
Underneath all of that busywork is a lightweight body made of an aluminum bonded chassis with front and rear aluminum subframe all wrapped around a carbon fiber body. Ariel keeps saying it’s lightweight, but they aren’t talking exact weight numbers just yet.
Ariel says the Hipercar will be available in either rear or all-wheel drive. Power comes from a Cosworth-developed 800V 62kWh liquid-cooled battery pack. Those get paired with four Equipmake APM electric motors at each wheel. Each one develops 295 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque.
Ariel says it has 150 miles of range on the WLTP cycle. That’s without the optional turbine range extender, another Cosworth-developed piece of tech that Ariel says is a 35kW Catalytic Generator. With the ability to charge the Hipercar on the move, Ariel is making a big claim, saying the Hipercar with the turbine range extender will be “independent of any charging infrastructure.”
Depending on whether you choose rear or all-wheel driver you’ll either have some serious or “holy shit” power. Two-wheel driver Hipercars will have 590 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque and all-wheel drive versions have a Bugatti rivaling 1,180 hp and 1,327 lb-ft of torque. That’s good for sub two second - to 60 mph times. Insane. If this all holds up when the car is finally released.
Ariel isn’t talking pricing or a release date just yet. But if you’re interested in reserving one, you can contact the company for further details.