If you found the 500hp Beast’s $165,000 starting price hard to digest, California startup Rezvani is trying to sweeten the pill with a cheaper Speedster version.
It uses the same Honda Civic Si-sourced supercharged 2.4-liter inline-four as in the launch model, but in the Beast Speedster, it loses 200hp for a total of 300hp, with the price dropping to $139,000.
That’s still a big pill to swallow for a (unique) carbon-fiber bodied Ariel Atom (the 365hp version of which starts from $89,750) powered by a tuned Honda Civic engine, especially if you consider that the 365hp Porsche Boxster Spyder starts from $82,100 (excluding delivery fees).
Rezvani promises a 0-60 mph (96km/h) time of 3.5 seconds for the Speedster that weighs the same as the 500hp Beast at 1,650 lbs (748kg), with the latter quoted to complete the same run in 2.7 seconds.
“We really wanted to put the emphasis on agility over speed,” said CEO Ferris Rezvani. “To complement our 500-horsepower Beast, the Speedster focuses on handling, and pure open-top performance for the road.”
According to the company, the Speedster’s interior “receives an upgrade” over the 500hp Beast with leather now covering the carbon fiber seats, steering wheel, and shift knob, while a four-point safety harness has been added to both seats.
From the pictures, we see that the 500hp model’s LCD screen has been replaced by a traditional instrument panel with standard gauges sourced from the Ariel Atom – and which to be frank, looks completely outdated and cheap even for an entry level city car these days, let alone a car that costs as much as a BMW i8, the Porsche 911 GT3, the Mercedes-AMG GT S – you get the picture…
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