California custom shop unveils new `hypertruck'
Want a Land Rover, but the stock stuff that company sells isn't cutting it for you? If you have a bank account with somewhere around $1-million-plus in U.S. greenbacks in it, you could opt for an SV Rover from Scarbo Vintage. The California-based custom-vehicle company is calling it the “world's first street-legal hypertruck,” and with a choice of 1,100-horsepower from a supercharged V-8, or a 750-kw (1,005-hp) electric powertrain.
It's the company's third model, following its SV F1 and SV RSR race cars. The SV Rover may look like it's built off a classic Land Rover Defender 90, but it's a handmade vehicle, including its chassis and body. As company chief Joe Scarbo put it, the truck “combines the nostalgia of classic British design with modern American muscle and technology to deliver a driving experience beyond anything this side of a trophy truck.”
The rear-mid-engine truck holds two people. The gas engine sends out its power through an eightspeed automatic transmission, while the available electric version uses a 75-kwh lithium-ion battery.
You also get four-wheel steering, height- and valving-adjustable air suspension, 20-inch forged wheels with 40-inch tires, six-piston Brembo brakes with carbon ceramic rotors, and up to 762 millimetres (30 inches) of total wheel travel. The body is handmade from aluminum and carbon fibre.
The interior is a mixed bag of tough-and-tender.
That Us$1-million-plus is just a guesstimate, especially as each one will be built to the customer's order with the resulting rise in costs.