Electric
Hybrid, hydrogen, batteries… they’re already working on future powertrains
Despite promoting one of the highest-revving naturally aspirated V12 engines ever built by human hands, the boss of the Gordon Murray Group has said all roads will eventually lead to electrified powertrains.
“Eventually we’ll all end up going electric,” Phillip Lee told TopGear.com. “I think that will be the end point and the reason is because legislation will dictate where we’re all going.
“For GMA [Gordon Murray Automotive], that is something we are working on and we’ve got R&D within Gordon Murray Technologies in order to explore different types of powertrains, all the way through hybridisation, electrification, hydrogen, alternative fuels… we’re looking at everything in order to see where the roadmap is.”
Earlier this year the tech division of the Group revealed two new electric SUVs, with Murray himself saying at the time that despite the success of GMA, the growth will come with Technology arm. “People will reconsider what electric vehicles are capable of and I am looking forward to personally overseeing these fascinating projects,” Murray said.
Indeed Lee noted how the Group had “already embraced” electrification and was trying to “stay ahead of the game” but noted customer concerns about where the sensation – for example one of the highest-revving naturally aspirated V12 engines ever built by human hands – would come from in the future.
“We get a lot of customers asking us ‘where is the emotion going to come from, how am I going to feel it resonate through the car’, which is absolutely true,” Lee said. “There are ways of using the V12, going hybrid or using cleaner fuels, but the problem [with electrified powertrains] is if it’s a grand tourer [GT], and I want to jump in and just drive, where do I refuel?
“The ethos about our brand and what we’re doing is we want people to drive our cars. We want to see them out and about and we want people to enjoy them. They’re not museum pieces to just sit there.
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“If you choose a fuel that keeps the emotion but nevertheless means you can’t use it, eventually you’ll end up in a roadblock. So we’ve got to look at that very carefully.”
Lee noted how whatever the Group decided on in the future, they’ll always be tech-focused, as light as humanly possible and would always maintain ‘emotion’. Something that, for now at least, comes via one of the highest-revving naturally aspirated V12 engines ever built by human hands…