Oilstainlab rolls out a bespoke supercar with swappable powertrains

Oilstainlab, a company founded by Canada-born Americans Nikita and Ilya Bridan, has unveiled a $1.85M supercar named Half-11. Its $2.3M version called HF-11 comes with a petrol engine that you can swap out for an electric motor and back whenever you wish.

Compared to the prototype first previewed last year, the final car looks very different. Both the body structure and the drivetrain specs are new. The original idea was to take a Porsche 911 roadster and swap it to a General Motors V8. The final result is an all-new vehicle riding on a proprietary mid-engine platform, albeit not without Porsche styling cues.

In its most basic version, the car is called Half-11 and comes equipped with a flat six-cylinder engine boosted to 650 PS (641 hp / 478 kW). Buyers can choose between six-speed manual and seven-speed sequential transmission.

The EV flagship is expected to output 850 PS (838 hp / 625 kW) from either powertrain and features a special subframe to facilitate swapping between ICE and electric. With the petrol engine under the hood, the car is expected to weigh no more than 900 kilos (2,000 lbs).

Only 25 units will be made. Preorders are already open, but while the car is nearly ready for production, it still needs some work. Oilstainlab says it has a manufacturing agreement with Multimatic, the company that brought us the Ford GT and other high-end cars. It also plans to invite the first 11 buyers to participate in the final design stages, test-driving the car and suggesting improvements.

The first working prototype is scheduled for reveal next spring. The production is still roughly two years away.