Gumpert’s first car, the Apollo was devastatingly quick. Hard to drive, but stupidly fast. One thing it wasn’t was pretty. It looked good in a functional, no-nonsense sort of way, and you could forgive its aesthetic failings due to its sheer performance. Their second car might not have that luxury…
Now that Gumpert have stepped back from the abyss of bankruptcy, they’ve decided that the best way forward is to attend the Geneva Motor Show with a brand-new prototype which they’ll be producing later this year. unfortunately it’s one of the ugliest prototypes outside of a Chinese auto show.
Called the Gumpert Explosion, the new car is a two-seat coupe with awkward proportions, a fussy front end, a droopy back end and a soggy-looking middle.
The only way they’re going to make this a success is if the Explosion is faster, better built and more dynamically capable of than all of its competitors. Gumpert say they’ll be charging 105,000 EUR ($144,500 / £ 86,500) for the car when it goes on sale later this year. So they’re going to be mixing it up with some fairly stiff competition from numerous manufacturers, both large and small.
The Gumpert Explosion goes into battle armed with a 2.0 litre engine which produces a healthy 420 horsepower and 383 lb-ft (520 Nm) of torque. The transmission options are a six speed manual, or a six speed paddle shift transmission connected to an all-wheel drive system. If Gumpert’s calculations are right it should be quick off the line, with the 0-62 mph run taking just a shade over 3 seconds.
So at least for most people all they’ll see is a blur.
