Zenvo Is Making a Small Hypercar With a Naturally Aspirated V-10
Zenvo’s 1,850 brake horsepower, V-12 powered Aurora was one of the more pleasant surprises of 2023, a new hypercar with real aspirations. Now, the car maker says it’s working on a smaller version, too, a “junior hypercar” powered by a V-10 that might be a bit more accessible.
Zenvo doesn’t have a prototype of this car that it can reveal, or even a name just yet, but the V-12 that the company is putting in the Aurora is versatile enough to slim down to a V-10 and possibly even a V-8. That has made Zenvo think of worlds beyond the hybrid Aurora, which is a would-be competitor to cars like the Koenigsegg Jesko.
“We’re already working on a V-10 version for our junior hypercar,” Jens Sverdrup, Zenvo’s chairman, told Top Gear, adding that the V-10 would likely be naturally aspirated, as opposed to the quad-turbo V-12 in the Aurora. “The engine was designed from day one with future-proofing in mind, so it can be naturally aspirated, it can of course run as a non-hybrid too if need be. Emissions are the real issue though. I think it will be tough to meet the next set of requirements without running a hybrid system.”
The Zenvo Aurora Tur at Goodwood
A naturally aspirated V-10 version of the Aurora engine might make something in the realm of 800 horsepower, which would make this junior hypercar exist probably in the same general space as a car like the Lamborghini Huracán. A V-10 Zenvo is also, for now, merely a thing the company is working on, which means that it’s a long way from execution. Zenvo still has to make sure the Aurora is a success at first, too.
In that regard, Zenvo seems on track, with the Aurora making its operational debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this month and charging up the hill. The company is almost explicitly pitting itself directly against Koenigsegg, the Swedish hypercar maker, which is a formidable task but reminiscent of the days when regular old supercar makers like Lamborghini and Ferrari would go head-to-head.
Zenvo, for example, says it is solely a hypercar company and won’t be bothering with lesser vehicles like an SUV.
“There’s no ambition to start doing family cars,” Sverdrup told Top Gear. “Something like a Koenigsegg Gemera wouldn’t be on our radar. But yes, we’re planning a junior hypercar and hopefully we could make up to 500 of those, depending on what the brand and the market would take … I would love to make hypercars in new genres, too, so not an SUV but a hyper off-roader.”
That’s big talk for a relative newbie on the scene, but that’s what you have to say to get noticed. Delivery remains to be seen.
Authors
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Erik Shilling
