With 100 of the world’s billionaires living in India, we’re surprised that a supercar hasn’t emerged from there yet. Heck, the country is even strongly represented in motorsport with the Sahara Force India Formula 1 team. Mean Metal Motors seems to feel the same, so the startup group is looking to be the first to produce one.
According to NDTV Autos, Mean Metal Motors is currently developing the M-Zero, a hybrid supercar that will be developed by four global teams. Design teams from Italy and Portugal will tackle the body while the UK team will handle the analytics. The group in India will be responsible for the majority of the work, like the powertrain and chassis development.
The plan is to shoot for total power output higher than 500 horsepower. Founder Sarthak Paul would like to source the 4.0-liter AMG twin-turbocharged V8 for the project, but the process for nabbing one hasn’t begun. If they get one, that already puts them over the mark as the V8 gives the Mercedes AMG GT 510 hp. A combined electric motor will supplement this output with an extra 250 horsepower, if all goes to plan.
From the current renders, a major part of the design is the crosshair-like rear, which is there for more than just looks. Intended to work similarly as to how a plane corrects its yaw, this is said to counteract oversteer through the corners.
The team’s passion and vision seems to be in the right place, but its hard to get our hopes up. As stated in a video uploaded to the startup’s YouTube channel, the group decided to jump right to supercar after developing RC cars and Go Karts, which is ambitious at best. They’re currently looking to raise an initial $7 Million to build a prototype. If successful, the M-Zero will be manufactured in a Scandinavian plant and marketed towards Europe.
While lofty for a startup, the plan does have sound, realistic goals. Mean Metal has been pretty transparent in its intentions, addressing many of the questions that go into putting a project like this together. We won’t hold our breath, but we hope we’re wrong on this one.
