The upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed will feature a very interesting debut: how about an entirely new Mexican sports car? Releases like that become very important when we remember this country hosts many production plants of many automakers but has never had one of its own. However, this roadster won’t be seen easily in its own hometown. The company’s intention is to start selling it in United Kingdom and North America, and later expand the operations to the Chinese, European and Middle-Eastern markets.
VÜHL stands for Vehicles of Ultra-light weight and High Performance. The company’s very first car features Etxe’s signature, a design agency owned by brothers Guillermo and Iker Echeverría. This passion was “inherited” from their father, and started to be expressed publicly still in college, which led Guillermo to receive a national award in the field. Such experience resulted on what they define as a a car “developed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts”. Everything in this car reminds of the typical English lightweight cars, which becomes interesting because they present a whole different concept of high-performance vehicles. Examples such as Caterham Seven try to offer the best possible driving, rather than to break records. The basic concept is to take off whatever isn’t necessary to make the car work in order to lose as much weight as possible. The car ends with a terrible internal space and almost no comfort or luxury items, but any enthusiast knows that it doesn’t take more than turning the engine on to remember that these aren’t simple urban cars. They’re built to be driven in sunny days through tight tracks, with lots of turns that will extract the best of their small but powerful engines. Accelerating through long stretches and approaching Mach 1 are tasks they prefer to leave for other cars.
Seems a tough market to get in? It is, actually. But the Mexican car’s answer comes with cutting-edge technology: the chassis features aluminum treated with aerospace technologies to improve torsional rigidity, while the body is made of RTM plastic and can be upgraded to carbon fiber. The aluminum monocoque weighs only 78 kg, which contributes to the very interesting kerb weight of 725 kg – the safety is assured by extremely resistant structures for both driver and passenger. The interior brings carbon-fiber seats, quick-release 330 mm steering wheel and water-resistant Dinamica suede trim, besides of electronic data acquisition dash and integral HD camera. Like it was mentioned, the engine isn’t a V6 or anything bigger: 05 brings Ford’s turbocharged EcoBoost 2.0L unit, prepared to deliver 285 hp of power and 309 lb-ft of torque. Pairing it to a six-speed manual transmission enables the car to accelerate from 0 to 100 kph in 3s7 and to achieve the top speed of 245 kph. The starting price will be £ 55.000 (plus tax and shipping), but like every car in this restrictive category, 05 will offer several options of performance customizing. That’s what Echeverría brothers mean when they say this car is “both stirringly fast and immense fun to drive”.
