Tuesday 12th March 2013

Vuhl 05 announced

New sports car to be developed in the UK and built in Canada and Mexico

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Bright new start-ups full of ambition in the sports car world are nothing new, but it’s rare that we see one with such a global parentage as the Vuhl 05, which has been announced today. It’ll be a road-legal lightweight supercar that, Vuhl says, is precision engineered for the track and endowed with exhilarating performance.

The cynic inside us says that we’ve heard all this before, but Vuhl (pronounced ‘vool’ and standing for ‘Vehicles of Ultra-lightweight and High-performance’... erm... L...) does have some big backers, not least of which the Mexican government. Other big partners involved in the development of the car will include Ford and Magna Steyr, so there should at least be the weight of some experience behind this new car.

So, about that international heritage, then. It’s been designed by a Mexican-American design agency, Etxe, which is headed up by brothers Iker and Guillermo Echeverria, and Vuhl says that its handling has been developed over here in the UK. Bodies, meanwhile, will be produced in Canada, while final assembly will take place in Mexico. And the company’s will have EU headquarters in Luxembourg.

It’s aiming big, then, this new outfit, but we can’t help but wonder whether the added cost and hassle of building a car in such a global manner can really be borne by such a small concern. We’ll have a better idea whether their efforts will be worthwhile when the car is revealed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in June.

[Denver09]

These teaser images are getting old

[300bhp/ton]

Sorry but scores a big fat zero from me. Announcements and claims with crappy photoshop hack of a picture don't make for actual cars.

[soad]

Denver09 said:

These teaser images are getting old

Absolutely. Almost annoying now.

[BeirutTaxi]

That teaser image is funny. Not sure why they bothered.

At least we now know that it'll be a road car with headlamps.

[suffolk009]

Good luck to them, but the 05 does already sound seven or eight years out of date.

[anonymous-user]

Looks like there are some more Scoop pics around of the car:

Sideview:



Rearview:




Topview:





Looks pretty good doesn't it....... ;-)


Also, there is going to be a "FOG" (FastOnGrass) edition comming along later:




;-)

[Kipplemaster]

To be announced in full next month - an April Vuhl?

[deadtom]

Kipplemaster said:

To be announced in full next month - an April Vuhl?

ooooooooooooh!

[oilit]

another dreary picture from an upstart company that's got more marketing twonks than production staff or finished product

FAIL

[mr2j]

No Dana, only Vuhl.

[Toltec]

So what is 'ultra-lightweight'?

400 - 500kgs?

Got to be under a ton even to be called 'light' really.

[xRIEx]

Kipplemaster said:

To be announced in full next month - an April Vuhl?

My first thought.

[sutats]

Are they lining themselves up to take the place of Lotus?

[V8 FOU]

Can I be the first PH er to say that 1.I hate the wheeels. 2.The back end design is messy. 3.The rear lights / headlights/ etc are from a Aston/Mondeo/Alfa/truck etc 4.It hasn't got enough power. 5.A 330d is faster etc ad nauseam.

There, that's saved all the usual stuff before anyone has seen or tried it. Bit like a GT86, then......

[Stingercut]

Looks like its been developed by the Mansory design team after a weekend of heavy substance abuse.


Sorry.., wrong car... I mean the new £3M Bull


Surely there are enough serious players already in this rarefied supercar space ?

Edited by Stingercut on Tuesday 12th March 23:17

Edited by Stingercut on Tuesday 12th March 23:18

[Woody]

The Vuhl-05 because its worth it.....

Will be getting my coat...

[rcs5158]

Doomed

[crostonian]

What a bunch of sad, cynical bds you lot are. Why can't you reserve judgement until the car is launched, surely car enthusiasts should be excited by news like this, sometimes wonder why I bother with this site.

[V8 FOU]

What he said ^^.....

and as I said earlier, shades of the GT86

[xRIEx]

Is it just me who finds it strange that, if you google 'VUHL' the only results are from car magazine sites - there is no VUHL website that I can see. And Echeverria brothers who are name dropped appear to have no notoriety on the 'net. And the 'handling was developed' in the UK? Not the chassis or the suspension, but the 'handling'? Sounds odd.