Delage brand revived with D12 hypercar

From the beginning of the 20^th Century in 1905, until its 1953 demise, Delage stood as a proud symbol of French luxury motoring, successful and influential in both motor racing and on the road, with its innovative 2.0-litre V12 LCV competition cars dominating Grand Prix racing in the mid-1920s. Delage went on to take the prestigious ‘World Champion of Car Builders’ title in 1927, with four Grand Prix wins for its later 1.5-litre straight-eight, with multiple Le Mans podium finishes as well.

After a 67-year gap, Delage’s new owner, French entrepreneur Laurent Tapie, plans to revive production at the marque’s old Levallois-Perret plant, pending settlement of a dispute with the French government over the Factory’s now-protected architectural property status.

Tapie plans to build just 30 examples of his new Delage D12 at around €2 million a pop, with the first two cars already sold. The standard D12 is the 1,130PS ‘GT’, tipping the scales at around 1,400kg, but there is a lighter, 1,310kg D12 Club, with a smaller electric motor and a total power output of 1,038PS. Both share the in-house 7.6-litre V12 engine, mated to an eight-speed gearbox. The centrally-tandem-seated D12 will use Formula 1-inspired pushrod suspension, with ex-F1 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve being the chassis development driver for the ambitious Delage project, working alongside a team of experienced motor racing engineers.

Although no maximum speed figures have been released as yet, the new D12 is said to accelerate from 0-100km/h (0-62mph) in just 2.5 seconds, with Tapie confident that the Delage will be capable of setting a new Nürburgring Nordschleife lap record for road-legal cars.