Prodrive will make and sell a road-legal version of the Hunter off-roader that premiered at the Dakar Rally in January.
The Prodrive Hunter has a body designed by ex-Jaguar design chief Ian Callum and with Spanish driver Nani Roma behind the wheel, finished fifth overall in this year’s Dakar. A handful of changes will be made to the production model but for the most part, it will be very similar to the racer.
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As noted by Autocar, the production model will feature the same Ford-derived 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6 as the race car, except rather than having 400 hp to meet racing regulations, the road car will produce roughly 500 hp. Mated to this uprated engine will be a more sophisticated transmission that is better suited to road use.
Elsewhere, the new model from Prodrive should have largely the same structure and suspension setup as the race car, although its body will be widened to accommodate larger wheels and tires. As such, the off-roader should be more than capable of tackling some treacherous terrain without breaking a sweat.
“When we first had the road car idea, we were thinking of building a detuned version, but since January we’ve decided to go the other way, giving it around 500bhp – even more power than the race cars – plus a sophisticated transmission and a fully designed interior,” Prodrive founder and chief executive David Richards said in a statement. “Clearly, it has to be more comfortable than the Dakar cars. We’re working on the exact spec. Ian Callum and his team are working on these things right now.”
Prodrive wants to have a prototype of the production model up and running by the end of the year. Pricing is tipped to exceed £1 million ($1.37 million).
