Apollo Automobil

The automaker once known as Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH has received a new lease on life thanks to wealthy investors at a holding company named Ideal Team Ventures Limited. What’s that matter? Well, Ideal Team has poured resources into the automaker, effectively allowing it to rebirth itself with a new product. That product debuted at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show as the Apollo Arrow – a 1,000-horsepower hypercar ready to compete in the exclusive league of built-to-order collectibles.

The automaker, now called Apollo Automobil GmbH, appears ready to redefine itself as a legitimate threat to other hypercar builders. "I have always been a big fan of the Gumpert Apollo. It was, in my opinion, a thoroughbred hypercar that stood out among its competitors," said Norman Choi, owner of Ideal Team Ventures Limited. "I’m excited to have the opportunity to revive, reinvent and rebuild this legendary, record-breaking vehicle.”

Though the company went through a restructuring, Roland Gumpert continues to act as Apollo’s CEO and chief engineer. "The Arrow is truly magnificent – it is the perfect combination of German engineering and automotive art," Gumpert says about the car. "Although it’s still a prototype, we are confident that the Arrow will achieve the unimaginable."

This marks a new chapter for Apollo, thanks to its new investor, fresh engineering practices, and as we’ll see with the Arrow, a new design style that mimics the natural world.

Continue reading to learn more about the Apollo Arrow.

The Apollo Intenza Emozione is one of the most dramatic-looking hypercars money can buy and, so it’s no wonder the company behind it is hard at work to make it go as good as it looks. New images of a test mule testing at Lausitzring prove that the IE will be at home on a road course.

We first caught a glimpse of the Apollo IE late last year and it was one of the most spectacular things on four wheels that we’d ever seen. It’s as if the body was designed by the winds of a hurricane to be as aggressive as possible with ginormous carbon fiber aerodynamic elements at both ends. It was the perfect follow-up to the Gumpert Apollo and, just like the Gumpert, the IE is perfected on the race track.

How do you go about competing with the best of the best in the world of hypercars? Apollo thinks it’s got an idea, as evidenced by this, its new flagship. Dubbed the Intensa Emozione, Italian for “Intense Emotion,” Apollo is seeking to bridge the gap between pilot and machine with an old-school, raw, and unbridled approach to making speed. Making its debut after just a year in development, the IE’s primary focus is on being “lightweight, aerodynamically efficient and connected, yet unimpeded by any emotionally dilutive technological systems.” Incredibly, in addition to pounding out lower and lower lap times, this spaceship-for-Earth also has what it takes to be a road car. However, don’t look for any hybrid system or turbos here – providing the power is an atmospheric, 6.3-liter V-12, which motivates a mostly carbon fiber body and chassis with nearly 800 horsepower on tap. So then – does it have it takes to get your blood boiling? Read on to find out.

Continue reading to learn more about the Apollo Intensa Emozione.

The marriage between Apollo and Roland Gumpert is over, and like most divorce proceedings, it ended long before any announcements were made. According to GT Spirit, Apollo let go of Gumpert as early as June 2016, but the company only made the announcement recently, likely because of a separate announcement involving its new partnerships with Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG) and Manifattura Automobili Torino.

Gumpert’s exit from Apollo marks the end of an era that had significant highs and debilitating lows. When the company was founded in 2004, it didn’t take long for Apollo to shake up the supercar industry with offerings like the Gumpert Apollo, Apollo Sport, and Apollo Enraged. The Apollo Sport, in particular, made automotive headlines when it posted a lap time of 1:17.1 around Top Gear’s test track, becoming the fastest car to do so at that time. And just as everything seemed to be going smoothly for the company, everything went off the rails in 2013 when Gumpert filed for bankruptcy. After a few years in limbo, the company was purchased by Hong Kong-based consortium Ideal Team Ventures Ltd in January 2016, which renamed it Apollo Automobil GmbH. It was rumored that Gumpert still had a role in the new company, but this announcement has effectively put those whispers to bed.

With Gumpert no longer in the fold, Apollo is all set to move forward with its partnerships with SCG and MAT. All together, the three firms will work to build a production version of the 1,000-horsepower Apollo Arrow supercar that Apollo unveiled in concept form at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. Details are still scarce on that front, but a previous report from Autocar hinted that the supercar, codenamed Titan, will be finished in time for it to appear the 2017 Goodwood Hill Climb and possibly make the hill climb.

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Apollo Automobil GmbH’s reincarnation from the doomed Gumpert brand is about ready to switch into high gear after the company announced a partnership with Scudera Cameron Glickenhaus to co-develop the production version of the 1,000-horsepower Apollo Arrow concept that was shown at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. Even better, the collaboration will also include Italian manufacturing firm Manifattura Automobili Torino, the same company that helped build James Glickenhaus’ SCG003 S supercar.

Details are scarce at this point, but according to Autocar, the three companies have set out a timetable for this cooperation, which will initially involve producing a race-spec version of the Arrow concept under the project codename Titan. The car is being touted to have a V-12 engine and will be finished in time for it to make the hill climb at the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed. From there, a V-8-powered road car called the Arrow S will follow, albeit without a timetable at the moment.

Admittedly, there are still plenty of things to be ironed out before this collaboration effectively gets off the ground. But the optimism is real from all parties concerned, particularly from Glickenhaus himself, who described the Arrow concept as a “thing of beauty” and expressed confidence that SCG can “bring a lot of technical know-how to the table from our successful experience of competing on the toughest races in motorsport.”

For its part, Apollo seems to share that sentiment, as chairman Norman Choi was quoted saying that “the SCG003C is a really impressive car and I’m looking forward to working with the team to develop our new Apollo Arrow and create something truly special.”

Here’s to hoping that this partnership lives up to its potential, and then some.

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One of the lesser known American sports cars, the Apollo 5000GT, was built between 1962 and 1965 in Oakland, California. The story of the 5000GT actually began back in 1959, when Frank Reisner, a former chemical engineer born in Hungary, raised in Canada, and educated in America, set up a shop in Turin, Italy to produce tuning kits for Renaults, Peugeots, and Simcas. The shop was known as Intermeccanica. In 1960, Reisner met Milt Brown, a young California engineer who wanted to build an American GT that would rival European offerings from Aston Martin and Ferrari. Looking for a coachbuilder for his project, Brown struck a deal with Intermeccanica, which began making bodies for the 5000GT in 1962.

The steel shells were made in Turin and then sent to California, where the

sourced V-8 engine and transmission were installed. Sold by Brown’s International Motorcars of Oakland, the car was well received and made the headlines when American singer and actor Pat Boone purchased one. The Apollo was sold in limited numbers until 1964, when production was stopped due to lack of funds. A prototype 2+2 version of the 5000GT was shown at the New York Auto Show in 1965, but it was never produced as an Apollo, being launched as the Griffith GT a year later.

Although Brown stopped building 5000GTs, several cars were assembled toward the end of the 1960s and in the early 1970s, at first by Vanguard Industries, and later by Apollo International, a company led by attorney Robert Stevens.

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German performance-vehicle manufacturer Gumpert underwent a corporate restructure in 2015, recently remerging as Apollo Automobil GmbH, a name pulled from Gumpert’s previous line of exotics. Coinciding with the rebranding is the release of two new models, both of which dropped cover at the 2016 Geneva International Motor Show. One is called the Arrow, while the other, shown here, is the N. Anyone familiar with Gumpert should instantly recognize the N’s… purposeful lines, which evolved from the Apollo S and Apollo Enraged that preceded it. Underneath, you’ll find the same race-ready go-fast bits as its forerunners, including a twin-turbo V-8, competition-spec suspension, and lightweight chassis.

Of course, you don’t wanna stray too far from the formula when making a follow-up to a record-setter. You see, back in 2009, the Apollo S went around the Nurburgring in 7 minutes, 11.57 seconds, earning the title of fastest street-legal production car from the German magazine Sport Auto.

Which brings us to the N. The singular letter is a reference to the notorious German track that is the vehicle’s genesis, which also happens to be the place where the rest of Apollo’s no-nonsense portfolio will be tested and developed.

Break it down, and this thing is basically a race car for the road with every intention of conquering the laws of physics with extreme prejudice. But in a world filled to the brim with insane hypercar competition, does the Apollo N have what it takes to flourish?

Continue reading to learn more about the Apollo N.