Tucked away from the mainstream, football-sized pavilions at the 2016 Auto Expo was a car that set the pulse racing, at least visually. It looked like something of a cross between the 1996 Ford Indigo concept (made popular by the Need for Speed II video game) and the KTM X-Bow, so we prodded further.
Called the Hyperion 1, this concept is still in its development stage and is a showcase for Bangalore-based Motormind Automotive Designs, an industrial design studio and prototyping company established in 2008 by Shahid Haq. A product of three years of research and development, the Hyperion 1 is an open-top, track-focussed concept that is claimed to borrow styling cues from F1 racers.
The car is visually compelling, with the front getting a split feature, the sides receiving large intakes, the tapering tail playing host to 'aero style spoilers' and the rear featuring cooling ducts and a diffuser. On the inside, two body-hugging, fully-adjustable leather seats are separated by a 'driver-centric' carbon-fibre console that intersects a wraparound dashboard. The cabin also gets ambient lighting, hand-crafted gauges and a fully adjustable steering wheel that is 3D printed.
All structural panels are constructed using light-weight composites.
The concept on display housed a 2.7-litre V6 motor, though details regarding its source were not available.