EXCLUSIVE: Bowler's 500bhp road car
13 November 2008
Bowler, manufacturer of mental Land Rover-derived 4x4s, is to make a road-going version of the Nemesis rally car with an eye on breaking into the Middle East market.
The British firm spoke exclusively to CAR Middle East during the recent UAE Desert Challenge and revealed plans to produce a 500bhp-plus beast that can be taken on the streets.
‘It’s going to be as close as we can get to the rally car,’ said Rob Critchlow, Bowler’s international sales manager.
‘It’s never going to be a luxury car – it’ll be a sport-derived sports car but with climate control and leather bucket seats from Recaro. And it’ll be stormingly fast.’
Such weather-inducing speed will come from a supercharged 4.2-litre Jaguar V8 producing in excess of 500 horses, mated to an automatic gearbox.
The car will be based on the Nemesis but with slightly down-tuned suspension compared to the rally car. The exterior design will remain very similar.
The road car will seat four, although customers can specify it without rear seats if they prefer.
Expect to see the Nemesis GT4, as it’s being referred to during development, during the middle of 2009. Only 50 GT4s will be made each year. The price is expected to be in the region of $190,000.
Mr Critchlow said the decision to road-legalise the Nemesis followed conversations with potential customers in the GCC region. The company is keen to expand into the area with its race cars as the rest of the world tightens its purse strings during the global economic downturn. Road cars will represent an alternative income stream for Bowler, alongside the rally cars that it sells to customers.
‘These guys in the Middle East are pushing for the car,’ he said.
‘We work closely with the local Land Rover importer and we know what they want.’
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