The temptation with a car like the Czinger 21C is to treat it as a collection of extreme specifications, and to be fair, it’s certainly not lacking in that department.
At its most basic level, the carbon-fiber-bodied 21C is a hybrid hypercar built around a bespoke 2.88-liter twin-turbocharged flat-plane crank V8 that revs to a searing 11,000 rpm. This power plant is matched up with a three-motor electric system—one electric motor drives each front wheel while a third serves as a crank-driven starter-generator. Combined output is rated at 1,250 hp (932 kW) and 691 lb-ft (937 Nm) of torque.
A seven-speed automated manual transaxle handles gear changes, chosen in part for its low mass and ability to tolerate high torque loads without the packaging penalties of a dual-clutch system. Tipping the scales at under 3,700 lbs (1,678 kg) with fluids, the 21C Vmax is capable of hitting 60 mph (97 km/h) from rest in 1.92 seconds on its way to an 8.6 second quarter mile and a 253 mph (378 km/h) top speed, while the road course-focused 21C High Downforce model
recently secured lap records at no less than five different California racetracks during a thousand-mile (1,600 km) road trip.
Both its performance and its $2,350,000 price tag put the Czinger 21C in league with the likes of the Koenigsegg Jesko and Aston Martin Valkyrie. But focusing on these figures overlooks what might be the 21C’s most interesting aspect—not what it can do, but how it does it.
Flipping the script
Czinger Vehicles was founded in 2019 by the father-and-son team of Kevin and Lukas Czinger as an extension of parent company Divergent Technologies, a Los Angeles-based engineering firm that specializes in generative design software,
large-scale metal additive manufacturing, and reconfigurable automated assembly systems. Divergent’s patented technologies have been leveraged by defense and aerospace organizations, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and the US Department of Defense, as well as high-end automakers like Bugatti and McLaren.
<small>Source: Ars Technica</small>
