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Hennessy update venom GT

19K views 54 replies 29 participants last post by  Lotustwn 
#1 ·
Hennessey Venom GT making official U.S. debut at Monterey

nice....but i'll keep on thinking...wouldn't the styling be nicer if based on the elise body....then it would look more like an porsche carrera GT...does anyone dare to paintshop it with the elise-clam instead of the exige??:coolnana:
 
#5 ·
Something about the proportions doesn't look right. Yes, I realize they extended the wheelbase by using a completely different subframe at the rear. It just looks ...... odd. The roof line is too short for the overall length of the car, I think.

I can appreciate the engineering. And I like the fact that it says they think the main chassis is a good base. It's a serious compliment.
 
#7 ·
I know the performance is supposed to be amazing, but....

- internet scuttlebutt says that the Hennessey guy is a bad dude and there are some very shady dealings.

- As good as it looks, it looks like a what it is - a stretched Exige. For $1M, I would expect something super fresh and super exciting.

- To me, it's 'cheating'. Sorry, but every other hypercar out there with a $1M price tag is engineered from scratch and, more importantly, has a body and interior created from scratch, not using another car and taking it the remaining 50 yards.

- $1M? Ok, so the performance is 2.5sec. Great. Jeff Schwartz at Schwartz Performance built, and can build you, an Ultima GTR with an LS6 engine that is (he claims) in the 2.1 realm/235mph top speed, for less than $100K. And it looks more exciting. Yellow99S parked next to his at a SuperCar Saturdays a few weeks ago.

- $1M - this is most likely a severely depreciating asset. Most have never heard of this car and I doubt it carries much resale value. It's not a McClaren. For $1M, you can purchase MULTIPLE collector level cars that will APPRECIATE in value. Will they have the same performance? Nope, but we are talking about a million bucks.

- $1M - do some math. You can buy a Gallardo Superleggera, a 458 Italia, an Aston Martin DBS, a great vintage car (say a '73 Ferrari Dino GTS), an Ultima GTR (with that comparably performance) AND have a some money left over for 2 or 3 2005 Elises! Think about that.
 
#10 ·
I think you miss the point when you get to a car of this price range. None of this matters. If you were considering spending 1M on a car, you are buying the car because you want it. The same person already has or could most likely buy all the cars listed as well.

If depreciation and performance mattered so much, then just buy a used Z06 and put some $$ into it and it will perform just as well if not better than all cars listed for a fraction of the cost.
 
#9 ·
The proportions of the body are all wrong. They should have enlarged the side intake slit so that it looks proper for the larger rear end. Instead, they kept the intake vents the stock Elise size and the car's rear end looks swollen and disproportioned. They didn't even use the larger mohawk scoop roof of the later Exiges. Im thinking for 1 million you could track down one of those Lotus 300RR's and have a factory wide body Lotus track car that looks properly done. You'd also have enough cash left over for a few other supercars. The interior looks nice but not 1 million dollars nice.

Is there any reason a rational human being would pick one of these over an Ariel Atom 500 plus a couple Lambo's and/or Ferrari's? If this were around $150k, even $200k, and had some changes to the body work proportions I could see it, but not this...
 
#11 ·
This is irony in a reverse way. I like when my 60k lotus was a 150k car. I'm not gonna like when my 1M car is a 60k Lotus lol.
 
#14 ·
Hence my disdain for the GTR and ZRI. Regardless of performance, the ZR1, to the layperson, is indistinguishable from a 'standard' Vette that is $75K less.

The GTR, for all it's amazing performance, looks like a $22K Altima witha body kit. It's a crime. That car SHOULD have amazing sexy lines (ala say an NSX).

That's what's amazing about our little plastic cars - many of us paid $30K for them and our neighbors think we are selling rock to buy our $150K cars!

Kinda like those 'Dress for Less' shows. Chick is wearing stuff from Target and H&M, but looks like a million bucks!
 
#16 ·
Overpriced, probably underengineered, and not that beautiful on top of it. For all the discussions on straight line speed, I haven't seen any footage or heard any legit comments about how it handles and whether it can sustain regular track duty.

I saw the car in person at CnC a little over a month ago (so much for the US debut :rolleyes:) and it doesn't look better in person. I like the structural design of the extended rear as they had the rear clam lifted at CnC and the bodywork is clean, but that's about it.

For that price, there are more than a handful of better options from both larger and smaller hypercar manufacturers. I don't know of the 6 or 7 that Hennessy's supposedly sold, but those buyers either have too much money that they don't know what the heck to do with it, or they need to get their heads checked.
 
#18 ·
I wonder which parts are still lotus? Just thr tub and interior? Im not sure the suspension arms or any other mechanicals are up for the 1200hp, 2500 lb, huge tire stresses. It is obviously a huge amount of work. I am guessing the engine is 50+k alone. The body and subframes must be pretty expensive to produce as well. 1 million is absurd but a few hundred K seems reasonable.
 
#19 ·
It's definitely priced so that Hennessy can make a sizable profit off of someone with more money than they know what to do with.
Probably priced a bit high, so perhaps if there's no takers someone will negotiate a lower price? guess we'll eventually find out.

As much as an abomination some might argue this car is, I think there's def a bit of a cool factor int he fact that at started off, and still looks a lot like our Lotuses.
 
#23 ·
I would also have to say that it is a 0 percent chance that I would buy this car even if I was a billionaire. It is probably the worst million dollar car ever. I see no way to start with a rattly British car that was badly put together and make a million dollar car out of it. The interior is still a dress up lotus lol. Everything is just wrong. A million dollar car has to be built from the ground up. Can anyone seriously compare the ins and outs of this thing to that of a Koenigsegg?
 
#27 ·
More on this.

I'm presently at Monterey Week sitting in my room at the Portola Inn. The RM auctions are going on right below me and right there as you enter inn, the Hennessey Venom GT is there with a bunch of Hennessy reps (including John Hennessy who many say is a crook).

Random musings:

- As soon as I walked in to look at it last night, I met Michael Anthony - Van Halen bass player. Super nice guy - took a bunch of pics. And yes, like every famous person, he's 5 feet tall.

- The car? Sorry people, it's a damn Elise. No getting around that. My wife came down about 10 min later and says 'oh look, it's your car' A million dollar 'hypercar' being mistaken for a $30K car. Yep, that's what you want.

- They said they are making 12 of them. Stats on the window show $940K price. 0-60 in 2.3. 0-200 in 15 (claims Veyron is 0-100 in 24).

- The interior looks like Lotus Trim Shop - certainly nice, but this thing is bone stock Exige interior just with some alcantara and fancy stitching. The only difference is a Momo on a quick release hub.

- The carbon splitter and skirts are very cool - in that they'd look awesome on our $30K Elises. Expect more on a $1M car! :)

- I was at Concorso Italiano earlier in the day and saw some stuff that, while it may not have the same performance numbers, is more original - specifically, the Kepler Motion - VERY COOL. The yellow Vector that Barrett Jackson is auctioning (the widest car I've ever seen) and even the new LP700 Aventador. Every one of these cars are designed from scratch. Sorry, but taking an Elise and pimping it out for a $1M is CHEATING.

On the side, was able to meet and shake hands/photos with Stephan Winkleman - CEO of Lambo - super nice guy. I wonder if Dany would have been so accomodating. Dude must have taken 400 pictures with people. Him and Barry Meguiar (Meguiars/Car Crazy) - by far, nicest guys there.

Here are some pics of the million dollar Elise.
 

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#28 ·
BTW - here's the Kepler Motion.

Stock web photo . I have about 50 pics of it on my wife's fancy camera.

This thing was GORGEOUS. Super nice guys too. From Costa Mesa. All carbon. 800HP and a hybrid!

The one they had here in Monterey was blue. Pure sex.

This is ground up engineering (from a body design standpoint), not cheating with an Elise.

 
#29 ·
Wow the Kepler is a great looking car! This is the first time I heard of it
 
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