Ariel Hipercar ‘Is Still Being Worked On’, But No Release In Sight

Remember the Ariel Hipercar? We’ll forgive you if not. Announced back in 2017 and revealed in the flesh in 2022, the bonkers-looking project from a manufacturer best known for strapping engines to track-focused scaffolding was set as an ambitious attempt to take on the electric hypercar market.

Its specs certainly put it into those realms. A quad-motor setup drawing power from a 62kWh Cosworth battery pack was said to produce a monstrous 1207bhp and 1330lb ft of torque, a sub two-second 0-62mph time and an actual turbine as an optional range extender. A far cry from a Honda-powered Atom, then.

It seemed the project was progressing neatly, with a few UK journalists even able to get behind the wheel of a prototype. The feedback was generally pretty promising, and several outlets reported healthy orders

Then… nothing. Things have been very quiet on the Ariel Hipercar in the years following. However, we’ve been told the project is still very much alive despite that.

Car Throttle spoke with Ariel sales manager Ben Calderaro-Gunn at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, who said: “Hipercar is still being worked on. The battery still has a lot of work to be done on it, and there’s the budget.

“We’re a small company. Yes, we were initially in it with a few companies but we’re managing things on our own at the moment. With other projects coming along, the priority shifts away from it. It is still there, ticking along in the background.”

Given Ariel’s spread of projects, though, the shift in Hipercar priority doesn’t come as a great surprise. Last year, the Nomad 2 launched and just weeks ago, the serious Atom 4RR. There’s also a production version of the electric E-Nomad Concept still in the works, too, although that could also be some time off.

“We feel there is a market”, said Calderaro-Gunn, “It’s a really small market… but with the batteries we’ve got at the moment, we need to get more range and we need the cost to come down quite considerably. At the moment, the battery alone is more than the rest of the car together”.

Ariel has yet to put a timescale on either the Hipercar or E-Nomad making it to production, so watch this space.