Devel Motors — The Dubai Hypercar Project Behind the Sixteen

Devel Motors at a glance

The Al Attar brothers and the idea

Devel grew out of a family of car collectors. The Al Attar family's businesses include the Gevora Hotel, and Hagerty describes the family as the one-time owner of the world's tallest hotel. The brothers own a collection of classic and exotic cars, including an original Batmobile. Rashid Al Attar, named as vice-president of the company, told Gulf News that the idea started when the brothers were children. He added that they designed the car themselves. Supercars.net names Mohammed Al Attar as the founder, together with two of his brothers.

According to Supercars.net, the brothers first thought of the car in 2006, shortly after the launch of the Bugatti Veyron, and began research and development in 2008. The company's name is a shortened form of Defining the Extreme Vehicles Car Industry. The family described the Sixteen to Gulf News as inspired by the F-16 fighter jet, with a carbon-fibre and aluminium chassis and a carbon-fibre body. Everything except the tyres was to be made in Dubai, in a factory planned at Jebel Ali.

The 2013 prototype and the V16 claim

The first Devel Sixteen was shown as a raw prototype at the Dubai International Motor Show in 2013. The company claimed a quad-turbocharged V16 with 3,728 kW (5,000 hp) and a top speed of 348 mph (about 560 km/h). It gave no price and no date for sales, and, as Hagerty later wrote, much of the industry treated the car as vaporware.

The engine was built in the United States by Steve Morris Engines of Muskegon, Michigan, on the architecture of the Chevrolet LS V8. In 2015 Devel revealed the V16, quoted by Supercars.net as a 12.3-litre unit. A dyno video of a quad-turbo V16 posted by Steve Morris in 2016 appeared to support the power claim. A 2015 Motor1 report cited by Wikipedia gives a dyno figure of about 3,367 kW (4,515 hp). Wikipedia lists the engine displacement as 13.1 litres and notes that a Motor1 article gives 13.2 litres, so the size of the engine is reported in three different ways. The Italian firm Manifattura Automobili Torino, known for the SCG 003 and the Apollo Intensa Emozione, was an early partner on the car; it later pulled out.

The 2017 car, three versions and the delays

Devel returned to the Dubai show in November 2017 with a car presented as the production version. It said it was taking orders, claimed a top speed of more than 300 mph (about 480 km/h) and promised deliveries within 12 to 18 months. The range had grown to three versions:

Supercars.net reports prices quoted in 2019 of US$1.6 million and US$1.8 million for the two road versions and more than US$2 million for the track car. In April 2018 a video of the car accelerating on a public road was published; Hagerty called it "clearly doctored". Later in 2018 the presenter Supercar Blondie became the first outsider to drive the car, although nobody opened the engine bay to show which engine was fitted. In 2019 the Sixteen made its North American debut at the Toronto auto show, but no production-ready car existed yet. In May 2021 Devel published photographs of a new chassis, which Hagerty's author suspected was based on the mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette C8.

The 2022 production car

On 8 June 2022 Motor1 reported that Supercar Blondie had revealed the first production Devel Sixteen in a video. It was built for one customer and was still being tuned. Instead of the V16 it had a custom twin-turbocharged V8 with a target of about 1,491 kW (2,000 hp), and many interior parts came from the C8 Corvette. The customer, according to the report, did not want the V16. Motor1 gave a target top speed of 400 km/h, a length of about 5.2 metres and a weight of about 2,270 kg. Wikipedia lists a wheelbase of 3,460 mm and a kerb weight of 2,268 kg for the car. The second car was said to be planned with a V16 retuned for 2,237 kW (3,000 hp).

Supercars.net reports that the first retail car was delivered to a collector in Japan in July 2022. Wikipedia also mentions a V10 version built in June 2022, with performance unconfirmed. As of the sources used here, no Devel Sixteen with the 3,734 kW (5,007 hp) V16 has been delivered. The company's speed claims, including 0–60 mph in 1.8 seconds, have not been measured by an independent test. More on the car itself is in the Devel Sixteen article, and the model is listed in the Devel Motors catalogue.

Devel Motors timeline

Landmark Devel models

For cars whose figures have been confirmed, see the list of the most powerful supercars.

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