A new supercar was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Called the Force 1, it shares the 555 kW/928 Nm 8.4 liter V10 of the Dodge Viper.
This new car has been designed by Henrik Fisker, who has used his new company VLF Automotive, focusing on sports cars with large-capacity naturally aspirated petrol engines, and the Dodge Viper is certainly one of those!
VLF was founded by Fisker, and involves former General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz and manufacturing authority Gilbert Villarreal. The company title borrows the initial of each founder member’s surname.
VLF Force 1.
With a $US300,000 price tag the Force 1 goes up against the far cheaper Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Spyker C8, Aston Martin Vanquish and the Viper with which it shares an engine, but VLF says its latest creation delivers “the best performance in its price class”.
With the use of extensive carbon-fibre construction this has kept weight to about the 1500 kg giving zero to 100 clicks in 3.0 seconds and on to a top speed of 351 km/h, but still provides a “luxurious contemporary interior for two people”, say VLF. Transmission is either six speed manual or six speed auto.
Sports seats can be optioned as the most lightweight manually adjustable versions or electrically adjustable.
The Fisker-style body is a head turner with large air intakes at the front, a couple of NACA ducts at the leading edge of the bonnet and Ultra Thin Ventilated (UTV) tail-lights and slender peeping headlights not unlike the Mazda MX-5.
Wheel size is at the edge of extreme at 21 inches with Pirelli P Zero rubber and the car’s dimensions are 1243 mm high with a 2018 mm width and 4545mm length.
Fisker had previously founded Henrik Fisker Design, which produced a number of concept vehicles but has not resulted in a confirmed production model. The Fisker Karma belongs to the Chinese parts-maker Wanxiang, which bought Fisker’s company in 2014.
