Despite the outer appearance, creating an automobile proves to be quite a demanding task. Brands such as Ford, Honda, and the massive VW Group invest staggering amounts annually solely in their design divisions. Taking this to the next level, since they constitute a much lower quantity product, supercars are even more complex to design and manufacture. In reality, some of the most extraordinary supercars and hypercars that have been produced, despite their prices spanning from hundreds of thousands to multiple million dollars, end up being sold at a financial loss.
Occasionally, though, comprehending the market and cues about their vehicles prompted some manufacturers to drop a project simply because it wouldn’t attract buyers or could potentially lead to financial ruin for the company in some other manner. These vehicles are frequently shifted into storage, at whatever phase of development they are currently at, and tucked away, unseen, out of mind.
There exist some instances, nevertheless, where manufacturers interpreted the market correctly but wouldn’t manage to sell the vehicle for profit, and which subsequently influenced later successful car designs. Today, we will examine three shelved supercars during the design phase that initiated the thought process for later supercars that were eventually manufactured.
During the 1960s, Ford Motor Company, after being rejected by Enzo Ferrari while trying to acquire the firm, introduced one of the finest supercars the world had encountered at the time: the original Ford GT40. It was not only a significant retaliation against Ferrari but also a demonstration of what occurs when the right individuals are assigned to the right divisions to develop an incredibly swift and stunning car.
The curtains were drawn back on October 24, 2017, revealing the Apollo Intensa Emozione, a hypercar designed to elicit sensations of velocity and power even when stationary. Straying from Audi’s typical history, the vehicle is propelled by a Ferrari 6.3L F140FE V12 engine producing 780 HP.
If that engine code seems vaguely familiar, it’s the identical engine that serves as the internal combustion powerplant in the Ferrari LaFerrari hypercar—only in the Intensa Emozione, they have cranked up the power a notch, removed some exhaust baffles, and unleashed it to create its characteristic extraordinary roar.
Merely 10 Apollo Intensa Emoziones are set to be manufactured, and they are all already spoken for. Half of them remain to be constructed due to the global pandemic, yet production has resumed, and Apollo is hinting at another vehicle being in progress already!
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