Billed as Qatar’s first supercar, the Elibriea concept looks like another potential piece of automotive vaporware. It’s a wildly styled machine from an upstart company claiming it can go into production, even though so far the only thing the Elibriea has done is sit on an auto-show stand.
But now we know the Elibriea can drive (slowly, in a straight line) … and make car noises! The company sent us this video of the car underway and, while it doesn’t look any less bizarre on the move, it does have a pretty nice growl. There’s something of a Batmobile vibe to it in low light, when some of the more polarizing styling features are less apparent.
The Elibriea was created by a 27-year-old student at Texas A&M’s Qatar campus, seemingly with the expressed purpose of trolling people on car sites. Like good art, it’s impossible not to have a reaction to this car, but that doesn’t mean it will be a good reaction. With its odd proportions and detailing, the Elibriea may just stand out for the wrong reasons, rather than the right ones.
That strange-looking bodywork is made from carbon fiber, which Elibriea says helps keep the curb weight down at around 2,200 pounds. The engine making that satisfying noise in the video is a General Motors-sourced V6. It’s mounted in the middle of the chassis and sends 800 horsepower to the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential gearbox.
Elibriea’s website says the production version of this car will be called the Equvallas, and the company previously said it would begin taking pre-orders in March. It also said it would start building cars in December, which seems like an overly ambitious goal. Taking a car from concept to full production in less than a year is nigh unheard of for established carmakers, let alone one that’s never built anything before.
As with all startup supercar companies, it’s probably best to take Elibriea’s claims with a grain of salt. And even if it can get the Equvallas into production, there’s still the question of whether plutocrats will buy it instead of a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Koenigsegg, or Pagani.
