Michel Gitano Pinoymade HYBRID sports car

**frag** · September 28th, 2011 03:11 PM

uls: thanks for the good lucks, but i'm not part of michel motors (despite my obvious bias and hopefulness for their success). but to further your point, as far as i know, michel has only made about 30 cars (all replicas, up to this point) in the 10 years my company has been working with them. the difference is, however, that the founder, mr. nene syquia, has brought in some new blood and new partners. what this means is more resources allocated to building more units, and with even better workmanship. quite honestly, i will be incredibly thrilled (as an enthusiast) if they can even sell 1 car a month, at least for a start.

ghosthunter: point taken. i'm more familiar with the tesla than the others (i only heard of fisker a few years ago when tesla sued them, and i had no idea venturi even made electric cars - i just remember the atlantique, which i thought looked like they knocked off the f355), and i made my statement in a comparion between the roadster and its cousin, the lotus elise. tesla insists that only a tiny percentage of the roadster is shared with the lotus, but what is shared is significant - the chassis (and interior, and basic shape, and a few other minor bits - check it out Auto Rivals | 2010 Tesla Roadster vs 2010 Lotus Elise).

that being said, the elise is a far better handling car than the tesla, mostly due to the weight difference - over 350kg, or nearly 30% more than what the lotus weighs. that weight doesn't just affect the car's nimble-ness when attacking bends, but also plays a huge role during braking into corner entries. a really good review can be found here: Lotus Elise SC v Tesla Roadster | evo Car Group test | evo

granted, this is a specific case, and the R&D of electric cars has just begun to take off, so i do expect to see improvements in future ZEVs.

going back to the gitano, the michel boys look like they are serious about making it handle well. one of the partners, reggie sy, is a very experienced driver and has a reputation for setting up great chassis packages for autocross and circuit cars. the components they've selected for the car - including the wilwood BBKs, koni coilovers and camber plates - mean that they are serious about handling.

**cripple_rooster** · October 5th, 2011 10:11 PM

This model looks nice, it makes me remember the TVR Cerbera...

**frag** · October 21st, 2011 12:31 AM

the gitano was on tv and i didn't know! and there's a semi-shout out about the glass being made in the philippines at 1:01! sweet!

the gitano in the news

**uls** · October 21st, 2011 06:23 PM

electric DeLorean

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noTAQ4Kon0E]Electric DeLorean - YouTube[/ame]

**niky** · November 4th, 2011 04:02 PM

Interesting news coverage:

Michel Motorsports Gitano debuts with EVDrive range-extended craziness

Michel Motorsports has chosen the SEMA 2011 convention to debut the Gitano, its first original design effort. The Filipino company has spent its first 23 years building replicas of classic sportscars, and that history has clearly influenced this rear-wheel-drive coupe. But lift the long hood and underneath you'll find a beating heart unlike anything found in its faux-Lotus Sevens – a 150 kW (200 horsepower) electric motor with sundry supporting components. If that sounds somewhat underwhelming, consider that it can pump out 300 Nm (221 lb-ft) of torque continuously from 0 to 5,000 RPM. Good times, yes?

EVDrive Drivetrain under the hood og the Michel Motorsports GitanoBut wait, there's more! Open the trunk and you'll find a 25 kW (34.53 hp) range-extending rotary engine ready to take you 250 additional miles past the 100-mile all-electric range. About the size of a spare tire and able to burn a number of combustible fuels, it runs at its peak efficiency to pump energy back into the battery pack during those long distance drives.

The power plants and their associated bits come courtesy of EVDrive. This outing represents their first foray into the commercial market as well, after spending the past few years developing their secret sauciness. AutoblogGreen actually covered their original electric dirt bike project back in 2008.

In addition to the system in the Gitano, the San Diego-based firm also has on display an all-electric version that's specifically engineered to be used in conversions of BWM E46 series vehicles. They say it should be available in the 2nd quarter of 2012 and be the first of a whole family of modular systems with outputs ranging from 65 to 1,000-plus hp.

As for the Gitano itself, there's no word yet on the pricetag or when it is expected to begin rolling out the door. The first examples will be constructed in Britain and die-hard petrolheads will be pleased to learn that the electric drivetrain isn't the only available option. The company says it can offer offer a variant powered by an LS-series gen IV V8 capable of 430 hp and 424 lb-ft of torque.

Interesting that they're going with the rotary range extender... and that's some serious hardware on the electrical side... and it seems like it will be available for use in other kit projects, too.

**Ry_Tower** · November 4th, 2011 05:14 PM

^ Any idea on the possible pricetag? Even they are clueless yet.

Anybody here has experienced with one-ofs and/or custom cars?

**niky** · November 4th, 2011 05:42 PM

None yet... but considering production will be done in the UK, expect it to cost an arm and a leg to bring here. If it were to be built here, however, with the zero percent tax on hybrid and electric components, the price could go down a whole lot... but don't expect much. The electrical controller that they're using, by itself, is 500k pesos. Add batteries and motor, that's probably 1.5 - 2m in electrical and hybrid hardware.

**ghosthunter** · November 4th, 2011 05:47 PM

Originally Posted by niky

None yet... but considering production will be done in the UK, expect it to cost an arm and a leg to bring here. If it were to be built here, however, with the zero percent tax on hybrid and electric components, the price could go down a whole lot... but don't expect much. The electrical controller that they're using, by itself, is 500k pesos. Add batteries and motor, that's probably 1.5 - 2m in electrical and hybrid hardware.

Years ago, we already did the basic pencil-pushing for the costing to convert an existing car (example: Corolla GL 16v) to electric and it was not viable compared to typical cost of cars. It is doubtful that the "pinoy-made" spors car would do any better.

**frag** · November 19th, 2011 01:00 PM

after talking to the guys an michel, it looks like the car will be assembled in the philippines. the chassis, however, will be designed in the UK (not sure if they will just send the designs here for assembly or if it will be imported as a whole chassis), while the engine will come from the US. the body and interior will be totally manufactured here. The car, however, will not target the local market primarily. rather, it's target markets are europe and the USA. in SEMA, all three times i dropped by the michel booth, there were people there talking about the car with interest. in fact, the last time i went, a group of japanese people were discussing the possibility of having one spec'd up for japan.

i mention it briefly in my SEMA report, as well. hope you guys enjoy it:

http://pinoypetrolheads.blogspot.com/2011/11/sema-2011-report-part-5-pinoys-at-sema.html

as for a car for local consumption, that is in the works (i don't have any details on this yet), but it likely won't be the gitano.

**cripple_rooster** · November 20th, 2011 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by niky

Michel Motorsports Gitano debuts with EVDrive range-extended craziness

Interesting that they're going with the rotary range extender...

Audi is also going with a rotary range extender for the A1 e-tron. BTW it's nice that the Gitano also has a regular non-hybrid version. I'm not too much fascinated about electric drive systems, altough it's actually an interesting technology and has its advantages...