It makes sense to partner a German OEM in the creation of a new exotic car brand; in fact, judging by the number of headstones in the supercar graveyard, you'd think it qualifies as critical to survival these days. Working alongside a proven brand and using its expensive-to-develop parts is a smart way to cut risk and costs – and it’s exactly why Naran Automotive stands out in a sea of hypercar newcomers for 2020. Either that, or it’s because the company is developing a V8 2+2 claimed to be capable of at least 230mph.
“Don’t think of our car as a high-performance grand tourer, because this is not a traditional 2+2,” founder Ameerh Naran, a self-confessed car nut who made his fortune running a brokerage for private jets, tells PH. “It’s much more like a really aggressive GT racing car, but one that you can carry three friends in. Above all else, this is to be a high-performance car capable of track work.”
The idea of a 2+2, pit lane-ready car is an unusual one, but the team behind the project includes some respectable names from the automotive industry, so there’s plenty of early promise here. Former Jaguar Land Rover engineer Steve Pegg is Naran’s chief of operations, the designer of Apollo’s ultra-exotic IE, Jowyn Wong, is crafting the exterior, while Kate Montgomery, best known for her work with Aston Martin, is the materials designer. Experts in their own fields that who you'd imagine would only join up if they were certain of the underlying potential.
The car itself sounds intriguing. Pegg kicks off his introduction by identifying a crucial benchmark: “the Aston Martin Vulcan”, a tremendous claim in and of itself, made even more so when confirms that he means “in terms of [the car’s] performance and theatre”. If you’ve ever heard a Vulcan running, you’ll know why that’s bold. The Naran is set to be a two-second 0-60mph-capable machine, using a twin-turbocharged 5.0-litre V8 producing about 1,050hp. The head and block come from an engine supplied via the as yet unnamed OEM, obviously with all surrounding components suitably upgraded. The unit is to be mounted in the front, “as far back as possible”, so it’s more front-mid, powering all four wheels via an adjustable driveline.
“We’re developing a rear wheel drive mode that sends 100% of the torque to the back,” explains Pegg. “We’re creating it with our German partner, so it’ll be tuned to meet all the requirements of that peak power, along with a fully hydraulic eight-speed ZF gearbox, using uprated bearings and cooling hardware. It’ll all be adjustable through three driving modes – Road, Road Race and Track.”
Then there’s the car, which measures 2.25 metres in width and five metres in length (making it undeniably large), and despite not using a transaxle to shift mass rearwards, is said to have a 50:50 weight distribution. That’s an especially impressive-sounding feat given that other heavies, including the engine’s cooling hardware, are to be located under the bonnet, as well. Pegg reveals that the surrounding structure is made up a mixture of carbon fibre, steel and aluminium, with a composite skin draped over.
The electronic architecture is also supplied by the OEM – Pegg says developing this from scratch would have been needlessly complicated – but he assures us that the car’s character will be unique. He says “all of the chassis systems, the subframes, the suspension arms” are created in-house at Naran, while the exterior – described by the company boss as “brutal yet beautiful” – is all bespoke. We’re told to expect 500kg of downforce, enabled by a “Venturi-style” floor “that’s as flat as it can be”, a sculpted top and prominent rear diffuser. Apparently, a rear wing delivers 200kg worth of downforce on its own, with the whole setup being passive due to the car’s unashamed focus on track performance.
Naran competed in motorsport through his twenties, so his desire to create something circuit-ready is understandable. He admits to wanting to return to racing with a Naran-branded machine in the future, affirming that he desires to go beyond the production of this first, V8 2+2 offering. But Naran explains that his company will also adhere to the high-grade aesthetic demands of customers; each of the planned 108 cars – 108 being the boss’s old race number – are intended to be completely bespoke inside and out. That’s in-keeping with hypercar tradition these days, and a way of ensuring big spends on each build.
“We have a mule under test as a tooled body right now and we’re a couple of weeks from the first prototype build,” says Pegg. “We’re within weeks of having a full engineering sign off for the long lead items. Covid-19 has caused hold ups to the supply chain and analytical partners, but we expect the first running prototype to be ready for October, after a 16 week build.”
Then, he explains, the process of durability, safety and performance testing will begin, before cold weather evaluation follows in the winter, and the building of additional prototypes will provide customers with an early go behind the wheel. There’s a lot of work to do before cars begin production in the UK, not least because 25 of the 108 are set to be Barchettas, and another 25 will deliver an as yet unidentified third variant. CEO Naran adds that in the future, the company “would like to offer a manual version”, so there’s more development beyond that - although Pegg reckons there are gearboxes on the market capable of providing a base for them to work from.
If that weren't enough to be getting on with, other ambitions include having a crack at the Nürburgring lap record for front-engined cars. It's quite a list of objectives for a car not yet summoned into existence. Nor one with an advertised price, although something tells us not to expect too much change from the cost of a modest private jet. Unquestionably, Naran Automotive is setting its sights on the sort of buyer who might have experience of that kind of purchase. That's just good sense, too.
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