If your idea of a daily driver is a nearly 600 horsepower anime monster on wheels, ProDrive has just the car for you. Based on the BRX extreme off-road race car of the same name, the Hunter is billed by developer ProDrive as the “World’s First All-Terrain Hypercar”, and it can be yours for just £1.25 million ($1.63 million). Plus tax.
“There are countless hypercars on the market, but they all need good roads or even racetracks to show their performance,” said ProDrive chairman David Richards in the company’s announcement. “We have found that in certain parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East, there are still vast areas that go well beyond the access provided by asphalt roads. So why not create a vehicle that has the ability to explore these regions with performance far beyond those previously offered by an all-terrain vehicle.”
The Hunter is built around an old-fashioned combustion engine. The twin-turbo, dry-sump Ford six-cylinder produces at least 592 horsepower (600 horsepower) and 516 pound-feet of torque, which is significantly more than in race spec. That’s an advantage of the street; there are no regulations (and associated restriction plates) to spoil all your big horsepower fun. Power goes to the ground via a six-speed paddle shifter, linked to the front, rear and center differentials that send torque to all four wheels. ProDrive says the combination is good for a 0-62 time in under 4.0 seconds and a top speed of around 180 mph, but stressed that road performance is not the Hunter’s raison d’être.
“We made the conscious decision to keep the Hunter Hypercar as close to the original as possible,” said Richards. “It’s about giving owners the chance to experience what it’s like to drive Loeb’s Dakar car through the desert, but with all the comforts of a street car and the ability to drive it from home, through a city, to any destination. destination of your choice.”
Like the race car, the Hunter’s chassis is a tubular steel frame wrapped in carbon fiber body panels. The suspension is a double wishbone setup front and rear with adjustable dampers. 17-inch wheels with 35-inch off-road tires are standard; behind them you see six-piston Brembo brakes. The Hunter road car also gets an extra 50mm of travel to improve ride quality over the racer. Its appearance may look a bit like Pikachu auditioning for a sequel to “Cars”, but at least you can tell all your friends that it was written by Ian Callum. That means it’s actually a Vanquish, right?
We’re normally unconvinced by the typical street racer (or in this case, “Ferrari of the Desert” turned street racer) hyperbole, but the Hunter is an incredible performance machine that’s remarkably lacking in comfort. † How flawed? Well, ProDrive’s list of interior features includes carbon fiber seats, six-point safety harnesses, a fire suppression system and a lightweight battery.
That’s not exactly a lavish splurge, but Callum was brought back to help design some of the cabin elements needed to make the Hunter more livable in everyday life, including a center console with slightly more conventional switchgear. The announcement made no specific mention of air conditioning, but a snowflake icon is visible between the controls, so we’re assuming it offers that at least. At over $1.5 million, that seems reasonable.
Related video: