Roughly two-and-a-half years ago, Ariel
previewed its Hipercar project with a rolling chassis and some big performance
promises. Very little has been heard about the project since then, but thanks
to Autoblog, we now have some information regarding this so-called Hipercar.
Speaking with the publication, a
spokesperson from Ariel said we “can expect something later in the year, before
the Low Carbon Vehicle Show.” This annual event is penciled in for September 9
in Millbrook, England and was the same event where the Hipercar chassis was
presented in 2017.
Unfortunately, the spokesperson failed to
state if the vehicle will be unveiled in full at the event, but did say
“certain things will have changed.” That could mean anything from its design to
the powertrain or the performance claims.
When presented as a rolling chassis, the
Ariel Hipercar featured a gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain that used a
turbine to send electricity to four in-wheel electric motors through a
lithium-ion battery pack. Ariel said the car would be good for 590 hp and 901 Nm of torque when running in rear-wheel drive mode and 1,180 hp and 1,803 Nm with all four electric motors running.
Naught to 96 km/h would pass in
2.4 seconds, 0-161 km/h would be done in 3.8 seconds, and 0-241 km/h in a staggering 7.8 seconds. The vehicle’s top speed was said to be
capped at 257 km/h.
In the years since the Ariel Hipercar was
previewed, a handful of other high-performance electric sports cars and
hypercars have been unveiled. These include the Rimac C_Two and Lotus Evija,
both of which promise performance beyond that of the ultimate Ariel.
