Disruptive Behaviour

Think today’s top-tier performance models lack bravado and are too coddling toward the driver? Ameerh Naran wants to build a hypercar for you.

- Words: Nick Scott

THANKS TO ADVANCEMENTS in small-scale manufacturing and broadening enthusiast appetite, the hypercar field today is more open to upstarts than it has been in recent memory—provided, of course, they can deliver the goods.

Yet even among the current crop of disrupters, many of whom are going the electric route thanks to the less-expensive development costs of electric vehicles, Ameerh Naran is marching to his own beat. The Zimbabwean CEO of aviation brokerage Vimana Private Jets also founded Naran Automotive and has come to market with his distinctive Naran hypercar. This bold, GT3-style performer presents a collection of idiosyncratic details, from the old-school twin-turbo V8 engine—producing 1,048hp—to the preponderance of seats (there are four). But perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Naran’s vision is that buyers of his model, starting at nearly US$2.2 million, should be made to work—hard—for their thrills.

The Naran hypercar is clearly the result of a specific point of view. Can you describe your vision for it?

In terms of driving experience, cars of yesteryear are so much more engaging. Luxury, generally, is moving back towards analogue. People like mechanical watches as opposed to battery-operated watches. Look at vinyl (record) sales.