Tuesday 24th August 2010

Aston Supercar - To Be Built By Golf Cart Company

Weird story of the year involves golf buggies, 950hp and a £6m price tag

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These renderings are images of something called the Aston Martin Super Sport, a 950hp supercar that’s apparently under development by a company called Star Electric Cars France – a company that also makes, among other things, blinged-up electric golf carts.

This will be built...

If a mid-engined Aston Martin supercar built by a company that more usually puts together golf buggies that resemble (sort of) Bentleys and Hummers is enough to make you giggle, then the fact that this Aston is going to cost 7.5 million euros (£6.2m) will probably make you spit your coffee over the computer screen (if so, we apologise for that).

The Super Sport is not electric (fortunately), and gets a 5.4-litre twin-turbo V8 (smells like a Ford unit to us) that will give up to 950hp. Power goes to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transaxle and a torsen limited-slip differential.

...by a company that also makes these...

Brakes are carbon-ceramic jobs, made either by Brembo or AP Racing (depending on the customer’s choice), while the body work is carbon fibre and the interior the usual high-end supercar mix of carbon, Alcantara and leather bits.

It’s hardly got pedigree, this car, but with only eight due to be made it will have exclusivity. And if you ask nicely, Star Electric might throw one of its Snow Riders into the deal, an intriguing contraption that looks like a cross between a snowboard, a jet ski, and an instrument of torture.

Quite what Aston itself makes of the Super Sport, we’re not sure – but it certainly makes the £1.2m Aston One-77 seem like conspicuously good value.

...and these. Seriously

It’s not the first time an Aston badge has been put on a mid-engined road car, either. Those with long memories - and fans of angular cars – will recall the 1980 Bulldog. That wedgy wonder was a one-off, although 25 were planned, and it too had a twin-turbo V8, whose 5.3 litres produced 700bhp or 600bhp – depending on which reports you read.

Update: We've spoken to Aston Martin - and we can confirm that this is not an officially sanctioned project, and that Aston's legal team are 'looking into the situation'...

 

	the last time an Aston went mid-engined it looked like this, the Bulldog from 1980

 

[louismasterson]

Excuse me one moment while I wipe tea and biscuit from my computer screen...


Now. Seven point how many million???

Shame we'll more than likely never see one on the roads because that thing is stunning! I gave it a 10

[thebluemonkey]

So is this actually being built with Aston Martins approval ? If not how are they using the badge and the name ?

[kingstondc5]

it looks like a duck in some of the pics of the front.

Seems odd that Aston are 'free-lancing' their work out though

[myhandle]

Is this officially licenced by Aston Martin, using this company as a sub-contractor (like Reliant who built the RS200 for Ford)

?

[soad]

Not too sure what to make of this - price aside, it's quide decent looking. Perhaps that's putting it too gently, I do like it.

Nice toy cars too...

[CAD Monkey]

I'll take one.......wait HOW MUCH!!!!!!!!!

[Andrew[MG]]

Looks like a good bit of marketing/PR from the company. Good work!

[myhandle]

The situation reminds me of those bizarre semi-official (and entirely hideous) cars made by Lamborghini South America - the hideous Coatl http://www.lambocars.com/archive/diablo/special.ht... and the Eros : (from wiki)
Automóviles Lamborghini Latinoamérica S.A. (English: Lamborghini Automobiles of Latin America S.A.) is a Mexican company that builds cars bearing the Lamborghini name under license from the Italian automaker. The licensing agreement was struck in 1995, while Automobili Lamborghini was owned by Indonesian corporation MegaTech and helmed by Michael Kimberly. The Mexican group was allowed to sell merchandise related to Lamborghini, and the contract included a clause that allowed them to "carry on the promotion and sale worldwide, of the vehicles which are manufactured or assembled with its "own restyling" within the Territory of the Mexican United States, and/or Latinoamerica." Automóviles Lamborghini has produced two rebodied versions of the Diablo called the Eros and the Coatl under its licensing agreement. The company is currently led by Jorge Antonio Fernandez Garcia.[86] As of July 2010 the company's website has been down and it may be defunct.

[louismchuge]

what

the

fk

[neilatter]

Hmmm, XJ220 overtones maybe?

[carinaman]

It looks like a Duckbill Platypus to me.

I fail to see how that's good for the Aston brand.

Look at that glasshouse which nods towards current and recent Astons. It's like an identikit Aston using the glasshouse and radiator aperture.

XJS underpinnings or not, this just makes the DB7 look even more attractive.

[AndrewW-G]

If this is an official Aston product, it's a great way to shoot themselves in the foot . . . . . . Aston seem to make almost as much a big deal about their heritage as Ferrari, Maserati etc, will this car not simply damage the quintessentially English Aston . . . . . . . . .or are they happy to produce their product globally whilst still trying to play on their heritage, becoming an automotive equivalent of HP still using the palace of Westminster on their sauce bottles that are produced abroad . . . . . . . .. . . at least with the Rapide I could chuckle that it was really an Austrian Martin Rapide

[DaveL485]

Gorgeous car, but the price is just a little bit the wrong side of silly.

[Macboy]

It's clearly a PR stunt and not in the least bit officially sanctioned. Aston Martin would vigorously defend their IP rights not just to the name but to their signature design features which also fall within the scope of intellectual property. Perhaps the biggest surprise of this story is that PistonHeads would post it without comment from Aston Martin on what utter rot it is. Posting it here this gives it some sort of credibility in the same way that they offer unofficial endorsement to ridiculously speculative design rendering from students of new Ferrari/Lamborghini/Bentley models. It's almost good enough to be an April Fools joke.

[Snoggledog]

7.5 million?? Are they serious? The fact that it's being developed by a golf cart company doesn't fuss me. The price though.... I want whatever they're smoking at Gaydon.

[anonymous-user]

It is a good looking car! However it looks more dated than Astons current line up. Sort of a cross between a Jag XJ220 and a DB9

[Mattygooner]

The Veyron was 1 million, and i could see some justification for that, this being 6 times better, not a chance. Aston jumping on the billionaire bandwagon.

And it looks like a monkfish....

[leon9191]

Mattygooner said:

The Veyron was 1 million, and i could see some justification for that, this being 6 times better, not a chance. Aston jumping on the billionaire bandwagon.

And it looks like a monkfish....

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ASTON MARTIN!

for gods sake its a load of tosh OR being made for the super rich who are stupid enough to buy it.

[JHS]

well the aston 1-77 is gonna cost 1.7 million and that does 225mph which has 700bhp so this aston will go like stink if it has 950bhp.
so why dont we just wait and see the top speed and 0-60 stats before critising ok ??

[wombat172a]

Aston Martin war room a few months ago:

"I've got a great plan, we'll find some 3rd party contractor and get them to build a car under license for us. It could be anything so long as it resembles an aston and looks expensve, we'll make sure not too many of these are built. We'll stick a couple of Aston badges on it ourselves, and and slap on a frankly ridiculous price tag. Then we'll have one wrapped in chrome and sell it to an Arab prince who will never use it. The rest of them will sell like hot cakes to all his mates.

We'll make an absolute killing"