Wow. This car belongs on everyone's Christmas list. What happened to this prototype??? A rear engined, RWD, 12cyl, QUAD-Turbo (Bugatti, anyone?) 850hp MONSTER! Can you say, Ferrari Killer?
I'll tell you what happened. Dieter Zetsche couldn't be outdone by a mere American car, now could he? Mercedes Benz had spent Millions of dollars and multiple years developing their SLR McLaren. Chrysler waltzes in, uses an AMG developed engine, builds their car in about one year, and did it all for millions less. Mercedes dropped the project to concentrate on the SLR.
We have all seen how well that worked out for them...
With the recent sale of the Chrysler Corp to Cerebrus, they have brought back Wolfgang Bernhard. He was the head of Mercedes when the ME412 was developed by Chrysler engineers, and was "deselected" from his position. However, he owned rights to the body design. This means:
1. This car could still be built
2. If it's built, the price tag would be less than half of the SLR McLaren
3. Chrysler will have a sweet-ass Supercar. (other than the out-dated Viper)
Here's some numbers from when this was a prototype:
0-60mph - 2.9 seconds
0-100mph - 6.2 seconds
1/4 Mile - 10.6 seconds @ 136mph
Top speed - 240 mph
2.9 seconds to 60mph is faster than the Ferrari Enzo. The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 goes from 0-60 in 2.46 seconds. But with a price tag of well over $1 million, only the uber-rich can afford it.
The beauty of it all? Every component was off Chrysler shelves, except for the engine. You're probably thinking, 'Well, isn't that a problem?' I think Chrysler can figure something out with their SRT division. They already have a 600hp, naturally aspirated V10. An 850hp turbo-charged V12 shouldn't be too difficult.
Right now this is a wait and see type project. Hopefully it gets resurrected with Cerebrus.
In the meantime, I'll just sit here and drool over the pictures some more.
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