Founded by a 21-year old entrepreneur named Sarthak Paul, Mean Metal Motors’ first model will be a sleek-looking two-seater coupe called M-Zero. Interestingly, it will be mostly made out of a new material called carbo-flax that promises to be both lighter and cheaper to produce than carbon fiber. Paul hopes to sell carb-flax to satellite-building companies in India in order to fund the production of the first few M-Zero prototypes.
The coupe’s design is still being fine-tuned but it’s inspired by the sailfish, the fastest sea animal on the planet.
“I was watching a random show in which they discussed how the world’s fastest sea animal moves through air and water,” explained Paul in an interview with CNN Money. “Then we thought, why don’t we just analyze why the fastest sea animal is the fastest?”
Although a functional prototype hasn’t been built yet, power is expected to come from a gasoline-electric plug-in hybrid drivetrain made up of a mid-mounted, twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine and a small electric motor. On paper, the 500-plus-horsepower setup should allow the M-Zero to reach 60 mph from a stop in less than three seconds — faster than a Porsche 911 GT3 RS — and reach a top speed of 200 mph.
If everything goes according to plan, Mean Metal Motors will introduce its first concept at next year’s edition of the Paris Motor Show. The production model will land shortly after with a base price that will lie between $125,000 and $150,000, but what markets it will be sold in isn’t known at this point.
Leave a Reply