Koenigsegg ex-designer rolls out his own supercar

Alexander ‘Sasha’ Selipanov has previewed the Nilu, the first vehicle designed by his own company, Nilu27. It will debut before a big audience on August 15, 2024.

It is coupe-shaped with plenty of air intakes all around, smooth outlines, gull-wing doors and an original rear end featuring a 3D-printed exhaust manifold.

The interior has no physical buttons except for some aviation-style controls at the ceiling. Surprisingly enough, there are also no touchscreens anywhere. The only display inside is the rearview mirror. The dashboard has analog gauges on it encased in frames somewhat resemblant of timing chains. The seats are fixed, but you can adjust the steering column, the pedals, the headrests and the mirrors to your requirements.

From the design standpoint, the Nilu is a carbon-fiber monocoque mounted on tubular subframes and riding on per-wheel pushrod suspension. A look behind 21-inch wheels reveals six-piston Brembo calipers with carbon-ceramic discs.

A 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 under the hood outputs 1,070 PS (1,055 hp / 787 kW) and 860 Nm (634 lb-ft) of torque in tandem with a seven-speed manual transmission. The car hits 100 km/h (62 mph) in under three seconds and should be good to exceed 400 km/h (248 mph), Selipanov says. With a curb weight of 1.2 metric tons (2,645 lbs), it actually sounds plausible.

The first production batch will consist of 15 track-only supercars. Later on, the company plans to assemble 54 street-legal examples.