Sometimes there can be a disconnect between what one sees in the details and what one sees in the overall picture. A good example would be excrement art. If you would look at its composition, namely poop, you might question its aesthetic merits. But if you'd look at the entire work, you might find that it transcends the sum of its individual parts (big emphasis on might) This is perhaps not the best analogy for a car but I'll get to my point in a while.
This bunny is made out of human excrement
I first heard about the Aurelio a few years ago. Back then I thought it was going to be called the "Pacita fibertech". A car name that is just slightly more glamorous than "Nene" or "Erning." The specs back then were sparse. I was expecting 200hp+ and a rolling chassis based on a Japanese car. I thought to myself, ferrari 458 copy on top of a japanese subcompact chassis. Meh.
Now the specs are out and I finally got to see the car in person. The car has a custom steel frame. The car will have a mid mounted turbocharged Honda B16 engine that produces 517bhp and which will propel the car to a top speed of 290kph. Those are very impressive numbers if indeed they're true. Also, Save for the engine, transmission and a few other components, it is almost an entirely new car from the ground up.
If i read the story correctly the Aurelio is the brainchild of 3 brothers, 2 of whom were in their early to mid 20's when the project started. These guys are living my childhood dream! As a wee little boy, I used to design cars on my drawing book hoping someday that they would see the light of day but they never did. These kids are seeing their vision materialize in front of them and for that i wanna give them a pat on the back.
The Aurelio looks like a mishmash of different supercars. It looks like a ferrari 458 from the front, from the side it looks like a mclaren P1 and it looks like an aventador from the rear with its single, center mounted exhaust pipe.
The cars that I saw seemed to be early prototypes. They were in various stages of completion. Some of the cars were lacking interior components, some were lacking exterior components.
You could tell that the body was cut out of fiberglass just by looking at it. The panels are very thin. It's especially evident when you look at the vents. In my opinion, they could've given the fins a bit more meat -make them more wedge shaped instead of flat so they wouldn't look like they were made out of cardboard.
The body panels had significant fitment issues. You could drop your key in one of the gaps and you'd lose it forever. The hinges are also visible and in my opinion quite unsightly. I bet they don't drive the cars in wet weather to avoid the ensuing river in the cabin.. Of course it has to be repeated that the car is still in development and these issues will probably be addressed once it enters production.
Exposed hinges and uneven panel gaps
If I didn't look at the Aurelio with a critical eye that magnifies every tiny imperfection, I'd say that it's a pretty beautiful car. If it drove past me, i'd turn my head as far as my neck would allow me. And then maybe i'd turn my waist as well. At 1.6m, it's the cheapest 500+hp car you can buy brand new. If i had the cash, i wouldn't mind owning one, after they've ironed out the kinks of course.
When you look at the details, it doesn't have the build quality of a proper German car.. or even Korean, it probably doesn't have the advanced electronics of a japanese car and it doesn't have the sports car pedigree of an italian car. But if you take a few steps back, let the details blend into the distance and admire the car as a whole, you may find that it's more than the sum of its individual parts. It has a form that you're unlikely to see on the road. It will probably turn more heads than a regular mercedes E class with all its properly fitting panels, it will go faster than any car in its price range--It will also probably be a limited production car. When you look at the big picture, this is the first built-from-the-ground-up Filipino supercar ever made.
Scratch that. If it ever goes into production, it'll be the first Filipino car to go into production, save for the Sarao jeepney. It's quite a step up from the Sarao to this. That's a claim to fame that should put it in museums eventually if not in a collector's garage
Watch the video below for a complete tour of the car:
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