Hypercar newcomer Deus Automobiles has emerged from the shadows of Vienna, Austria, to throw its hat into the "world's most powerful cars" ring. Its Vayanne super-coupe puts out four figures' worth of all-electric power and torque on its way to screeching from 0 to 62 mph in under two seconds and topping out just under 250 mph. But as odd as it feels to say, by the time the car launches in 2025, 2,200 horsepower might just be too little too late for "world's most powerful" bragging rights. Time will tell.
An outrageously powerful "production-oriented" Austrian hypercar concept penned to life by Italdesign sounds like an archetypal Geneva Motor Show car if ever there was one. But Deus didn't have the option of a Swiss soiree this year, so the Big Apple does the honors of hosting its world premiere.
Softer and smoother than you might expect a 2,200-hp electro-coupe to be, the Vayanne is fairly nondescript from the front, save for a gaping black grille that leaves something to be desired. The perforated design is interesting enough, but it feels like it would be better if they cut it down to half its size or less. The aim was to create an infinity symbol-inspired design, but the car ended up with too much maw.
The airflow-promoting hexagonal perforations find more favorable surrounds in back, housed on the sides of a black lemniscate that mirrors the front grille, lassoed into place by a rope of red taillight. The left and right outlets and rear diffuser appear ready to spit out an absolute windstorm of air.
Deus hasn't overexerted itself providing details about the electrical underpinnings, leaving that work more to its partners Italdesign and Williams Advanced Engineering, which last year announced a collaboration on the type of electrical platform that underpins the Vayanne. What Deus does promise is that the fully electric powertrain will target 2,200 hp (1,640 kW) and 1,475 lb-ft (2,000-Nm) of torque, enough for an estimated 1.99-second 0-62-mph (100-km/h) sprint and 248-mph (400-km/h) top speed.
With the 5,000-hp Devel Sixteen lurking around the Arabian Peninsula, the Vayanne might not ever become the outright most powerful car in the world, but if those Bulgarian boys drag their feet long enough, it could hit its target of becoming the first electric megacar to boast 2,200+, leaping the Lotus Evija to become the most powerful electric hypercar on the planet. And if it records that 248-mph speed run with the right folks watching – before the likes of the Rimac Nevera or Tesla Roadster 2.0 – it could also become the world's fastest electric production car.
But first, production. That won't happen until 2025, assuming Deus and Co are able to stay on schedule ... never a safe assumption to make for this type of project.
If and when it does get into the factory, Deus hopes to make the Vayanne an "oasis of luxury in the world of electric hypercars." That means a properly comfortable, high-spec interior loaded with digital tech and sustainable buzzwords. It even introduces us to a new techy buzzword – Halo Infinity Mirror. This is a multi-strip of highly distracting light that wraps around the cabin and gives police one more reason to pull over the Vayanne when it clocks in the triple digits.
Only three years or so separate the first of no more than 99 Vayanne buyers from taking delivery of their battery-powered hypercars. The rest of the world will have to settle for merely gawking at the Vayanne concept, the first opportunity for which comes at this year's NY International Auto Show, which opens to the public on Friday.
Source: Deus Automobiles