At first glance, looking at the Imperia GP, you ask yourself, “is this a Morgan, a Weismann, or an old school American hot rod?” The answer is, none of the above. Belgian car maker Imperia Automobiles, which I had never heard of until today, used to produce cars in the early 1900’s to the 1950’s.
In 2008, the company started to revive the brand as an old school hot rod. When you look at the Imperia GP, you would expect a high horsepower V8 under the hood. Looks can be deceiving as under the hood it houses a 1.6 liter turbo engine which puts out 209 (154 kW) horsepower and 184 pound-feet (250 Nm) of torque. In addition to the gasoline engine, an electric motor provides an additional 136 HP (100 kW) and 184 lb-ft of torque. This modern hybrid technology propels the Imperia GP from 0-60 mph in 4 seconds. A 0-60 mph run on the electric motor only, results in an astonishing 6 seconds.
With the use of this efficient hybrid technology, the Imperia GP achieves 123 mpg (1.9L/100km) and a single charge on the electric motor will drive you 70km; better yet, it only takes 4.5 hours for a full charge. No details on the interior as of yet but the Imperia GP will go on sale in 2012 at a steep price of €89,950 and will be available next year but if you just have to have the car this year then you can buy it now for an additional €30,410, the total bill in USD is about $164,809.
Imperia GP Picture Gallery
Via: Imperia Automobiles
