Ever since it was
founded in 1981, Gemballa specialized in modifying vehicles built by other
manufacturers, mostly Porsche, and has made a fine name for itself as one of
Germany’s leading tuners. Well, perhaps “tuner” isn’t the right word, as since
1985, it has been being recognized as a bona fide car manufacturer by the
German Motor Vehicles Authority.
Despite that,
Gemballa has yet to build a standalone vehicle of its own – but that is about
to change. The company has just announced plans to build its own supercar, the
first in its 38-year history. To make that possible, it is opening up for new
investors for the first time since 2010 when it was acquired by current owner
Steffen Korbach and other investors in the wake of founder Uwe Gemballa’s
death.
Since 2010, the
company has received investments of over € 15 million that have
been used for the relaunch and new tuning projects. With further investments of
€ 20 million at its disposal, Gemballa is now planning its own,
bespoke car that will not be based on anything else.
The announcement is
accompanied by a sketch of the upcoming supercar that features a mid-engine
layout. It looks really spectacular but, then again, most sketches do, so we’ll
reserve final judgement until we see the finished item. The launch of
Gemballa’s first supercar will also mark the reinvention of the company into a
standalone small production run manufacturer that will also be “an exclusive
modification company for extreme, complete conversions of Porsche cars.”
Gemballa says the
first designs will be presented to selected clients soon, with the first
prototype to be built as early as 2020. If all goes well, production of the
supercar will start in 2022. The company will fund the project through private
equity and venture capital companies, and says that concrete discussions
“already underway.”
