We Withhold Judgment On The Minerva J.M. Brabazon

Apparently taking a cue from Spyker, a Belgian boutique supercar maker, called Minerva, has decided to resurrect the name of a long-forgotten prewar luxury marque. The first model from the reborn company is known as the J.M. Brabazon, a plug-in hybrid supercar named after a British racing driver. The gasoline engine is a twin-turbo V12 mated to a six-speed F1 gearbox, while the electric portion of the drivetrain consists of two motors which drive the front wheels - The top speed is said to be 248 mph, and the car has five different driving modes: Economy, Normal, Sport, Race and Safe Mode. This all sounds like it could be promising, although we’re always a bit skeptical when a new company announces a new and magnificent supercar. Assuming the hybrid setup is something like the one used by Audi in its Le Mans prototype cars, there is definite potential here. But a company which leaves the initials of the person they’re naming their car after in the model name is clearly a company which makes odd decisions. In all, we’ll wait to judge it until we’ve seen