Enthusiast website GT Spirit reports Gumpert’s revival is the brainchild of a handful of wealthy collectors and investors who met because they all get their high-end cars serviced at a Hong Kong repair shop called SPS Automotive Performance. Interestingly, Ideal TeamVenture bought the remains of DeTomaso last summer, though it has yet to do anything with the name.
The group has enlisted company founder (and former Audi engineer) Roland Gumpert to design a new model, though rumors claim that he has been hired as a consultant and that he will not be involved in running the car maker. The firm has been renamed Apollo Automobil to reflect the new ownership.
The name suggests the company formerly known as Gumpert will return to life with an evolution of the Apollo, the only model it has ever sold to the general public. Essentially a street-legal race car, the Apollo was powered by a 4.2-liter twin-turbocharged engine borrowed from the Audi parts bin and tweaked to make up to 800 horsepower in its most powerful configuration. The coupe was capable of reaching 62 mph from a stop in a little over three seconds, and it earned the honor of being the fastest car to lap the Top Gear track when it was introduced in 2008. Its record has since been beaten by over half a dozen cars, including the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.
We’ll hear more about Gumpert’s transformation into Apollo Automobiles — and, possibly, about its next new model — on January 11, and the car maker will return to the auto show circuit at the Geneva Motor Show, which will open its doors in March.
