What may be the world’s first “Hyper SUV” is a jacked-up electric hypercar built by Italian design house GFG Style.
Today’s SUVs have virtually nothing in common with the utility vehicles that originally spawned them. Whereas the original ute was built to handle all sorts of terrain while carrying heavy loads, today’s SUVs are meant to travel comfortably over paved surfaced and nothing else.
So has it been with the few electric SUVs we’ve seen outside of the recently revealed Rivian R1S. But now we have a new electric SUV that promises to combine off-road ruggedness with hypercar concept styling.
It’s called the GFG Style Kangaroo Concept, and it bills itself as a “hyper SUV” despite not having all that much in terms of hypercar performance.
Under the all-carbon fiber body are a pair of electric motors that combine to produce 360 kW of power, or 480 hp and 501 lb-ft of torque. Zero to sixty-two is done in 3.8 seconds, with a limited top speed of 155 mph. So the Kangaroo is fast, but hypercar fast? Not so much.
A 90 kWh battery provides over 280 miles of range, while the Kangaroo’s set of 22-inch wheels are adorned in Pirelli Scorpion all-terrain tires. All-wheel-drive and all-wheel steering combine with active aerodynamics to give the Kangaroo exceptional handling.
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But what really lets the Kangaroo get off road is the suspension. The Kangaroo can set its shocks and springs in 3 different configurations: Racing for high-speed road use (ground clearance of 140 mm or 5.5 inches), Road for everyday comfort (190 mm or 7.5 inches), and Off-Road for getting down and dirty (260 mm or 10.2 inches).
Why the name Kangaroo? “Just like a kangaroo”, says Fabrizio Giugiaro of GFG, “it rises up, springs into action, jumps from one terrain to another and is fast, very fast indeed!”
On the inside, the Kangaroo is just as outrageous as its exterior styling suggests. The main infotainment screen takes up the entire center dash, while a slightly smaller screen makes up the instrument cluster. An even smaller, flatter screen behind that connects to the Kangaroo’s many cameras and replaces the rearview mirrors.
GFG will bring the working prototype to Geneva later this month. No telling if it will ever go on sale, but maybe it’ll inspire other carmakers to make some exciting electric SUVs.
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