We thought we’d heard the last of Gumpert, the German company that specializes in catastrophically ugly yet brutally fast supercars. Gumpert declared bankruptcy in September, but it appears to be back with a new supercar called the Tornante.
The Tornante was first shown as a concept car at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, but patent images of a production version have leaked out. Before its bankruptcy, Gumpert had planned on building the Tornante to replace its original model, the Apollo.
The 2011 Tornante concept had a 4.2-liter, twin-turbocharged Audi V8 like the one in the Apollo. It was rated at 690 horsepower and was coupled to a six-speed sequential-manual transmission. Top speed was 186 mph according to World Car Fans, which leaked the photos.
That Tornante may have just been a base model, though. Gumpert makes several versions of the Apollo, with the top Apollo S producing 750 hp and claiming a 223 mph top speed. For all that, Gumpert charges roughly $550,000.
The Apollo and Tornante are the brainchildren of Roland Gumpert, a former Audi engineer who led the development of the company’s quattro all-wheel drive system, and coached the Audi Sport factory rally team to four World Rally Championships.
The Tornante will reportedly make its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2013. Although a handful of Apollos were imported to the United States, the Tornante may not make the trip across the pond. Since its bankruptcy, Gumpert has been concentrating on building up core European sales, nixing an expansion into China in the process.
Is Gumpert financially healthy, or is the Tornante just vaporware? We’ll find out next March.
