Delage has commenced production of the D12 hypercar and has already built four examples of the 30 it has planned.
The D12 was first unveiled by the revived Delage brand in 2020 and it is being built at a factory in Magny-Cours, France. The man behind the new-age Delage brand, Laurent Tapie, says that it will take the firm four to five years to complete production of the D12 hypercar and acknowledges that building recognition for the brand is taking time.
“The car attracts a lot of attention because there’s nothing else like it out there,” he told Autocar. “The brand has been dormant for 70 years, so it won’t become a success overnight.”
Read: Delage Is Back With An F1-Inspired Supercar That Packs Up To 1,100 HP
Driving the Delage D12 is a 7.6-liter naturally-aspirated V12 mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission and supplemented by an electric motor. Two variants are offered, the standard GT with a combined 1,100 hp, and the lightweight Club which has a smaller electric motor, is capped at 1,010 hp, and weighs 198 lbs (89.8 kg) less than the GT.
Underpinning the D12 is a carbon fiber monocoque and much like the Czinger 21C and a jet fighter, the driver sits in the center while the passenger is positioned directly behind them. This has enabled the Delage team to design an incredibly thin cockpit, allowing it to make the car as aerodynamically efficient as possible. One particularly intriguing element of the D12 is its use of a contractive suspension system that was used by McLaren and Ferrari during the 1990s in Formula 1 and was invented by Delage’s current chassis and suspension chief Mauro Bianchi.
It remains unclear if Delage has sold all 30 units of the D12 but with an average starting price of $2 million, we know it’s not cheap.
Delage isn’t resting on its laurels with the D12. Tapie told Autocar that the firm is already planning its second production car and that it will be a fast grand tourer in a similar vein to the Bugatti Chiron. He added that it will have a hybrid powertrain and that design work has even started on the firm’s third model.
