China’s state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) has launched a new Rimac Nevera-rivalling electric car under its Hyper sub-brand. Deliveries of the 2023 GAC Aion Hyper SSR have started, and it’s available in three variants. Creatively, SSR stands for Super, Sports, and Race.
The Hyper SSR appears like an amalgamation of the second-generation Honda NSX and the Tesla Roadster. It has a sharp front splitter, long and sleek headlamps, two air-intake ducts on the hood, scissor doors, and a sleek rear section capped off with an upright spoiler and aggressive-looking diffusers.
The starting price of the Hyper SSR is 1.28 million yuan ($176,380), while the Hyper SSR Spring and Hyper SSR Ultimate cost 1.38M yuan ($190,000) and 1.68M yuan ($231,000), respectively. In comparison, the Rimac Nevera costs a fortune, with an eye-watering $2.1M, or roughly 11 times more than the Chinese hypercar.
The performance figures appear boisterous, at least on paper. Three electric motors deliver 1,224 horsepower and 8,850 pound-feet of torque (12,000 Newton meters) at the wheel, with a claimed efficiency of 94.5 percent. The “entry-level” model can slingshot from a standstill to 62 miles per hour in 2.3 seconds, while the top two variants can do the same in 1.9 seconds.
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Tesla also claimed such outlandish figures for the Roadster, whose arrival it promised eons ago, and is delayed till 2024 at least. It is also claimed to accelerate to 60 mph in just 1.9 seconds thanks to 7,353 lb-ft (10,000 Newton meters) from a possible tri-motor set-up like the Model S Plaid.
The Hyper SSR has a 74.69-kilowatt-hour nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery pack, which delivers 314 miles range on the CLTC, as per CarNewsChina.
The Hyper SSR isn’t GAC’s first attempt at performance EVs. Early this year, the group revealed the Aion Hyper GT, a teardrop-shaped four-door EV, claimed to be the world’s most aerodynamic with a drag coefficient of just 0.19. Although it’s a hotly contested space with many carmakers claiming the throne – the Lucid Air has a 0.19 Cd as well.