Wiesmann is back with the BMW-powered Thunderbolt
Weismann – the closest thing Germany has to TVR – is set to hit the road again with its first new model since it was dragged out of the financial mire in 2014 by British investors. The new model you see here, codenamed Project Thunderbolt, still wears its camo wrap but that long, long bonnet and swoopy styling show the firm is staying with what it knows best.
Which is? Classically inspired front-engined, rear-drive, two-seat coupes and roadsters executed with German precision – and mostly BMW bits. Since setting up shop in 1988 the Wiesmann brothers have turned out a succession of sportscars and GTs, all of which have been well received if not profitable.
But now under its new British-based owners we are promised a new era for Wiesmann and some new models, the first of which is Thunderbolt. It will be a “world class sportscar for the modern era… yet fiercely retaining the Wiesmann DNA,” says the company, which assembles all its cars in a modern plant in Germany.
If “modern era” suggests an electric powertrain, forget it. An electric motor in a car with sportscar proportions like this? Possible but unlikely. More likely is that under that mile-long bonnet is a twin turbo 4.4-litre V8 courtesy of the BMW M5. They have used M5 powerplants in their cars before, and while the firm hints they are developing an electric car, it is odds on not the one you see here.
And as a last hurrah to petrol power this retro-inspired but modern engineered two-seat roadster might just shape up well, from the little we so far know about it anyway. It seems to go all right – as it should if they are using all the M5’s 600 horses (447kW).
But then the always rear-drive, always BMW-powered cars in the company’s past have always enjoyed a reputation for honest sportscar performance and ability. So, high hopes that Thunderbolt will wear its Wiesmann company logo – a gecko – with pride. Why a gecko? Because the lizard sticks to walls the way the car does to roads, so says Wiesmann.
You just need to like the styling: traditionally that has been a modern take on a classic Jaguar grille and front end with a curvy profile inspired by cars like the Austin-Healey 3000. Or is there more of a design surprise this time? We will know more when the covers come off in the coming weeks.
New Wiesmann owner Roheen Berry tells us: “Thunderbolt will continue Wiesmann’s reputation for setting the standard for performance, craftsmanship and sheer enjoyment. This is the Wiesmann fit for the 21st century, and this is just the beginning.”
Wiesmann
Thunderbolt
