Apollo Intensa Emozione vs. Gumpert Apollo

Iconic twin-turbo V8 monster against its steroidal, V12-powered descendant - on a German runway

By Sam Sheehan / Sunday, 17 May 2026 / Loading comments

If you’re lucky enough to have a seven-figure sum to spend on a V12 track car, firstly, can I have some? And secondly, what do you go for? Obviously, the stunning Aston Martin Valkyrie and GMA T.50 should both make the cut, and it would be silly to leave the Pagani Huayra R Evo and Ferrari FXX K Evo off your shortlist, too. But what about the Apollo Intensa Emozione?

It doesn’t just tick the V12 box with a 780hp 6.3-litre engine, it also comes with the added kudos of being the spiritual successor to arguably the most brutal supercar of '00s. The 2005 Gumpert Apollo, you may recall, significantly raised the bar in its day with a Nurburgring production car record, but also proved memorable for its primal sense of design. And yet when parked next to its modern-day equivalent, the Le Mans GT1-inspired Gumpert looks, well, soft.

I mean, just look at it: is there a more bonkers-looking car than the Apollo IE to have hit the road outside of science fiction? The exterior is all angles and flinty aggression, with active aero and slim LED lighting ensuring a look that many would surely believe to be AI-created - if it didn't precede the technology. Evidently, the design is not just appreciated by PHers - who voiced plenty of positive opinions in the forums since it was first revealed in 2017 - but also 10 buyers, who each paid more than two million euros to own one.

The IE you see here at Nordlinger airfield is Apollo’s own machine, a production-spec car that the brand has hung onto. It’s been put to good use, too, and even has a confirmed run up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this July. But before that, yours truly is getting a go to see what all the fuss is about - and to confirm whether or not the IE really is worthy of joining the illustrious seven-figure V12 track car list. All in the name of consumer research, of course.

So what exactly is the Apollo IE? Well, it’s probably worth starting with a quick recap of the brand first, because you’d be forgiven for not understanding how it all relates to the 2005 Apollo. Gumpert, as it was then called, did pretty well in the late noughties, selling as many as 50 examples of the Apollo in various 600hp-plus specifications thanks in part, no doubt, to the awareness boost that came with a brief stint at the head of the Top Gear TV leaderboard. But Gumpert went one step better by smashing the Nurburgring production car lap record with a 7:11, confirming the Apollo was absolutely Der Boss on the Nordschleife in 2009.

Fast forward a few years and financial difficulties - not helped by the aftershock of the 2008 financial crash - meant Gumpert filed for bankruptcy in 2013, before the brand was reanimated three years later thanks to an acquisition by an Hong Kong-based consortium. It was renamed Apollo Automobil, with brothers Niko Konta and Marko Konta at the helm as the respective CEO and CPO of Apollo. They bring plenty of concept car development experience with them, and that helps to explain the insanity of the IE.

Next to the Gumpert, you can really see how small-scale production technology has progressed. The intricacy of the aerodynamic features, the scoops and intakes and flics of its carbon fibre bodywork, all make the cleaner, more rounded shape of the Gumpert look a bit old-fashioned. Neither car is pretty in the classical sense, of course, but the purposefulness of both is beyond question. And with no road registration to worry about, the IE has been able to gain sharp features that would obviously fail modern pedestrian safety requirements.

Nor would the exhausts pass the noise limit tests at conventional track day events. With a naturally aspirated V12 mounted amidship and without any silencers, the IE barks into life with a deafening volume. The Gumpert, by contrast, with its Audi-derived 4.2-litre V8 complete with a pair of additional turbochargers, does have small silencers at the back, meaning its thunderous rumble isn’t as damaging to the eardrums if you forget to poke your fingers in your lugholes before it fires up. Both sound properly racer-ish, but the IE is just nuts.

It’s also not much heavier than the Gumpert despite being considerably more car. At just 1.4 tonnes, the IE only 100kg heavier than its forbear, meaning both cars are comfortably lighter than a 911 GT3 RS. Although with 780hp to this particular Apollo S’s 730hp, the newer model is only a tenth quicker to 62mph, taking 2.7 seconds. Clearly, these are monstrously quick machines, although presumably thanks to taller gearing, it’s the Gumpert that gets to a higher vmax of 224mph.

Before sampling Apollo’s angular creation, some context. Climbing into the Gumpert is like folding yourself into a child’s bathtub. But it’s not race car-snug by accident, the original Apollo was designed by Jowyn Wong (formerly of McLaren) with an acknowledged nod to the GT1 class of Le Mans. The bubble windscreen, suede-wrapped steering and pull-push sequential gearbox lever all feel entirely appropriate, while the pedals are slim and adjustable, meaning you can sit with your legs angled forwards and the wheel close to your chest.

Turn the key, slip the clutch. Under four thousand revs it’s supercar quick; over it and on boost there’s 663lb ft of torque to make it feel more like a bomb going off than anything else. Yet thanks to the position of the engine over the rear wheels, and an easy-to-modulate throttle pedal, this ‘old’ Apollo can be sent bursting out of corners on the looped Nordlingen airfield like a horizontally launched firework. The sequential six-speed takes some muscle and likes a heel and toe when you dip the clutch, but the reward is peals of thunder (and foot-long flames out the back) with every kick of the right pedal. That 4.2 and its turbos rumble and woosh like nothing else. The effect is dramatic.

Given the old-school grunt on hand, it’s pleasing to discover a chassis that feels more Lotus-like than anything else. Steering feel is rich and at some points quite intense, but the whole car fizzes and communicates with you, so you can play with the balance via trail braking and stabs of the throttle. It doesn’t punish you if you're inaccurate with the controls; quite the opposite, actually. Chuck the Gumpert about and you'll sense a slightly softer edge to the chassis. This, I’m later told, is a debt owed by the car to ‘Ring record driver, Florian Gruber, who wanted something driveable on the limit at the Nordschleife. Fair do’s.

Discovering that the Gumpert is actually a pussy cat with a lion's roar doesn’t make the IE any less intimidating. For starters, its interior is as sci-fi as the exterior, and the yoke-style steering wheel only adds to the daunting vibe. You practically lay down in the IE’s seat, peering over its angular dash through a noticeably wider screen, with its substantial arches in full view ahead of you.

Fire up the motor, which requires a race-car-like ignition and start-up process, and the V12 doesn’t just spin into life with a gargle. There’s the inconsistent grinding sound of a Hewland six-speed sequential that turns to a high-pitched whine once you’re moving, just to make it all feel all the more visceral. The clutch is more demanding, too, meaning it takes three stalled attempts before I get going, and while you can use the shift paddles without the clutch underway, the car judders and shakes if you coast too slowly in a low gear.

Of course, once the earth is moving beneath the wheels, you have to come to terms with the noise again. And what a noise it is. The uniqueness of a V12 engine note is well documented, but a Ferrari F140-based block (shared with the F12, no less) that can spin to 9,000rpm without silencers and breathes through a completely custom, 3D-printed titanium exhaust system? Astounding. There’s texture to it as well, with the escalating orchestral song of twelve cylinders accompanied by harsh mechanical notes that fizz and crackle off throttle. You could easily nail the instantaneous, paddle-shift upshifts by sound alone, but a digital dash that explodes with colour as the revs rise adds to the theatre.

You can feel the ghost of the Gumpert in the IE’s chassis, with the same soft edge to the spring rate on the limit which allows you to read the car and play with the balance in the corners. Without any boost to manage, the IE’s acceleration is smoother and less explosive, which means you can be even heavier with the throttle mid-corner. It will bite if you’re silly with the right pedal - I found myself applying an armful of lock and still not managing to keep things in the right direction are one such moment - but it’s clear the IE has come from a similar place to the Gumpert, with the same sky-high targets for on-track performance and driveability.

The result is a hypercar that looks like it wants to go to war on the other side of the galaxy, but which is actually approachable and quite comfortable to drive. Granted, my laps around a looped runway aren’t exactly flying laps at Yas Marina, but you can sense from the way the IE piles on speed (then shakes it off with those massive carbon ceramics), that this is, like the Gumpert, more prototype race car than track-focused supercar. Admittedly, the steering in the IE is lighter and slightly less feelsome, and the pedals unexpectedly closer together, meaning I had to ditch my trainers - but for a race-boot-clad buyer who wants to lap their favourite Grand Prix circuit until the sun goes down, I know which car would be the nicer one to do it in.

Does that make the Apollo IE the V12 hypercar to go for? Well, sadly yours truly has driven too few of its rivals to supply a definitive answer, although, as ever with these things, that’s almost beside the point. In the world of seven-figure V12 track cars, why have one when you can have several - as we know people do. The Apollo IE - like its iconic older brother - is completely worthy of its status as overachiever and would earn a place in any fantasy-grade collection. Which is handy, because if you are lucky enough to have such a thing, there is actually a way to get yourself a brand new one. Just last year, Apollo launched an Evo version of the IE, and that comes not only with more aero and less weight, but more power as well. Of course, if you want a Gumpert from the good old days, you'll need to keep your eyes glued to the classifieds and your fingers crossed. Which is exactly what I would be doing.

SPECIFICATION | APOLLO INTENSA EMOZIONE

Engine: 6,262cc V12
Transmission: 6-speed Hewland sequential, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 780@8,500rpm
Torque (Ib ft): 561@6,000rpm
0-62mph (secs): 2.7
Top speed (mph): 208
Weight (kg): 1,400
MPG (official combined): TBC
CO2 (g/km): TBC
Price: €2-3m

SPECIFICATION | GUMPERT APOLLO S

Engine: 4,163cc biturbo V8
Transmission: 6-speed manual sequential, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 730@6,000rpm
Torque (Ib ft): 663@4,000rpm
0-62mph (secs): 2.8
Top speed (mph): 224
Weight (kg): 1,300
MPG (official combined): N/A
CO2 (g/km): N/A
Price: £275,000 (when new)