A limousine in an SUV body? A first look at the new Eterniti Motors Hemera.
For those who think the Porsche Cayenne is too plebian, and perhaps a bit underpowered, there’s hope ahead. The Frankfurt Motor Show will bring the unveiling of a new “Super-SUV” designed by a start-up British auto company, the ambitiously named Eterniti Motors.
The maker will attempt to lure the media wandering the vast corridors of the Frankfurt Messe next week by trotting out Le Mans winner Alastair Macqueen and Formula Grand Prix winning driver Johnny Herbert.
But the real draw will likely be the question of what Eterniti plans to deliver with its new Hemera ute that you can’t get from the likes of a Cayenne, a Range Rover Autobiography or an Audi Q7.
Officials with Eterniti aren’t placing all their cards on the table yet, but TheDetroitBureau.com has learned that while the Hemera is claimed to deliver reasonably good off-road manners, the emphasis is really on limousine comfort – and Porsche-like performance.
Eterniti claims Hemera will make 620 hp and top out "in excess of 180 mph."
The Hemera will be hand-built in modest numbers at a London factory, which means plenty of hand-stitched leather and wood swaddling a positively huge rear cabin featuring twin electric reclining seats, iPads and drink coolers.
For those who prefer the active motoring life, Hemera will turn out 620 hp, Eterniti confirms, though it is holding back the rest of the powertrain details other than to say the new “Super-SUV” will top out “in excess of 180 mph.”
The British start-up isn’t the only company that sees an option for high-line SUVs. Land Rover has moved both down-market with the new Evoque but also upwards into the sport-ute stratosphere with the more exclusive version of its flagship, the Range Rover Autobiography.
Meanwhile, as TheDetroitBureau.com first reported last month, Bentley is working up plans for a high-line sport-utility vehicle that would complement its Continental and Mulsanne passenger car lines. (For the details, Click Here.)
The trend runs somewhat counter to what’s happening in the more mainstream utility-vehicle market, where more and more makers are abandoning traditional, truck-like SUV platforms for more car-like crossovers. The Range Rover Evoque, in fact, is the first CUV from Land Rover.
But Bentley CEO Wolfgang Durheimer believes there are enough newly affluent buyers in emerging market like China who want a classic, full-capability SUV – albeit with the ultimate level of comfort and luxury appointments – to justify the growth of a super-SUV segment.