Is this $3,400,000 Hypercar a Scam?
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**Article Title:** A Nostalgic Reminder
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WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en-
Hey, remember that part in…
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A Nostalgic Reminder
Hey, do you remember that part in...
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WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey, remember thatpart in "Furious Seven"when Dom and Brian break intothat vault in the skyscraper?- You realize what thisis? Lykan HyperSport.- I'm sorry, a what?- Lykan HyperSport (slow motion)- Back in 2015, I had neverheard of the Lykan HyperSport,which was weird becauseI was watching a lotof Top Gear at the timeand that made me very qualified.After seeing Dom deadliftand drive this thing out of a building.I wanted to know more about the rareand presumably very expensive...- Lykan HyperSport- Well, it's been five yearssince I left that movie theaterand we still haven't seen the Lykanin a drag race or set a lap timeor do anything that provesit's a real hypercar.So I got to ask why you lying Lykan?What's the deal?(upbeat music)- A big thanks to Skillsharefor sponsoring today's video.Skillshare is an online learning communitywith thousands of inspiring classesfor creative and curiouspeople just like you guys.For the past two months Ishowed you great classeson morning routines and loving plants.And I genuinely hope thatyou've given it a chance.In fact, I challenged all of youto better yourself and notjust in a creative skillset,To wrap up our self-improvement challenge,I want to show you guysmodern money habitsby Justin Bridges.In little over an hour, Justin coversbudgeting, credit cards,dealing with debt,and even saving for retirement.Things they don't teach you in school,but they definitely shouldbecause this stuff really matters.And thanks to skillshares love for learning,there are no ads that break upyour lessons on financial confidence.They're always launchingnew premium classesso you can focus onaccomplishing real growthand the best part?Skillshare costs less than $10 a monthwith an annual subscription.So what are you waiting for?Click the link in the description belowto start bettering your life.And the first 1000 ofyou to click that linkwill get a free trial of skillshares premium membership.And now back to the show...- The Lykan HyperSport is a carmade by W Motors over in Dubai.I'll let Brian give you the specs.- $3.4 million, zero to 60in less than three seconds.There's seven of thesethings in the world,and this guy keeps it locked up in a vault- To get a little more specific.The hypersport has aclaimed 780 horsepower,diamonds mounted in the headlights,gold in the stitching and the seats,a holographic infotainment system,and if that's not enough tomake it worth $3.4 millionit comes with a free watch as well.W motors claims that the hypersportis the first supercar to be designedand produced in the middle East.It's got a mean face, suicide doors,and huge vents all over this thing.With looks that aggressive,you'd expect a mean engine note,but here's where it gets weird.If you look at the promovideos of the Lykanon W Motors own YouTube channelalmost none of them show thecar with the engine running.That's weird, right?Of the little footage W Motors does havethe clips are ramped up to a higher speed.They're literally making thecar look faster than it is.This is a Cardinal sin.It feels like W Motorsis covering something up.Like there's something about the carthey don't want us to see, right?Many of the YouTubersthat have been alloweddrive this car havenever really been allowedto ring it out.And there's no footage anywhere of anyonethrashing this thing or even justflooring it off the line.This is where you might startto write-off the Lykan as vaporware.Cause if they're not going toshow us how good the car is,must not be that good at all, right?But when you dive a littledeeper beyond first impressions,that's where the story gets wild.First, Let's look at some of WMotors claims about this car.W Motors claims that theLykan makes 780 horsepowerfrom a flat six engine or do they?Cause here's thedocumentary about the Lykanthat says...- 770 horsepower.- And here's amarketing video that says 750.So which is it?Did he make three versions of this car?I guess that's why theirwebsite says the car doeszero to a 100 kilometersper hour in 2.9 seconds.Their official teaser says 2.8and their CEO gave aninterview saying it's...- 2.6 seconds.- It may not seem like a lotbut when you're talking aboutacceleration, that's quick.Three tenths of a secondis a big difference.That's the differencebetween a $200,000 Porscheand a $1 million Porsche.But maybe that was all just typosor the marketing team screwing up.A number you can't screw upis how many you've soldespecially when you onlyplan to build seven of them.And they're all individually numberedusing cool looking Arabic characters,right over the engine Bay.In that documentary serieson W Motors YouTube channel,they state that in December of 2013the first Lykan was soldto a quote undisclosedmiddle Eastern buyer.That's not unexpected.I'm sure someone inDubai would want to havenumber one of seven in their collection.But I'm not so sure that'swhat actually happened.Because here's footageof number one of sevenin Monaco in 2014, beingdriven by the W Motor CEO.Maybe their anonymous buyerjust let them borrow itand borrow it again to takeit to Monterey in 2015,and then let him paint it red in 2016and then let theseYouTubers borrow it in 2017?This thing looks like it'smaking the rounds moreas a promo car than a customer car.And what about the claim that the Lykanis the quote first supercar designedand produced in the middle East?Sure, the company isbased in the middle East,but the car was built atMagna Steyr in Torino, Italy.And while the stylingmight be middle Easternthe heart of this beast and the cagewas built in Germany.Critical components such as the engine,transmission, suspension,and in fact the whole chassisare designed and producedby German manufacturer Ruf.And they aren't even bespoke parts.They're all pulled from the Ruf CTR3.Don't get me wrong, the CTR3is a very cool and capable supercar,but at $750,000, it means the Lykan iskind of like a $2.6 million body kit.And while it may be a body kitmade of expensive componentsthe actual assembly of these piecesisn't what you'd expect.The diamond set headlights look less likethey were assembled byhigh-fashion jewelerand more like a 14 yearold with a bedazzling gun.Sorry, that's just being honest.And when you compare the cabinto the cockpit of the Pugani Huayra,you start to see what amulti-million dollar carshould look like.The Lykan has got me questioningso many things about it.I'm not even sure if the (beep) are real.Please, don't sue me.But what are you going to do?Take the car to an appraiserand have them open up the headlights?But at least the car hassome performance, right?Because W Motors alsostated they were startinga motor sport division in Birminghamwhere they'd be competingin GT racing by 2017.(wind blowing)- Where's that?With all this interesting stuff going oncombined with the fact that 70%of the company's businesscomes from consultingit's hard not to wonder aboutthe man behind it all, Ralph Debbas.Ralph is a Lebanese autodesigner who started W Motorsin 2012 at the age of 25.When you hear Ralph Debass talk,he speaks in superlatives.Every sentence has the wordfirst or only or best in it.And sometimes when he says those wordsthey aren't exactly true.But if you listen tohim talk about the Lykanand ignore the bold claimsabout innovation and quality,you'll notice something else.He describes the design of the carfrom a metaphorical andsymbolic standpoint only.Ralph talks about how thedesign reflects a moving animalor a pouncing Wolf or how the symbolismof the number seven iscrafted into the bodyworkbut he never talks about itfrom a technical perspective.He never mentions aerodynamics or coolingor weight distributionor anything like that.No mention of anything thatwould contribute to performance.I don't think it's a stretch to wonderif this thing has ever seen a wind tunnel.YouTuber Mr. JWW shot a pretty sick videowith the Lykan, a Ferrari488, and a Mclaren 650Sdriving up a closedroad in Ras al Khaimah.After that video,he said that the Lykan couldn'tbe in most of the shotsbecause of overheating issues.Now I'm not an aerodynamicist,by any stretch of the imagination,but I'm pretty sure if yourbodywork is just for looksand doesn't funnel air to your radiatorsto cool your rear mountedengine, it's going to overheat.But despite all these fishy details,I don't think the LykanHyperSport was a scam.Ralph does not talk likehe's hiding something.He's excited about the carand he's excited to see it driving.So I have a pretty simple theorythat might explain the highstrangeness behind W Motors.It's that Ralph Debass is not a car guy,at least not in a traditional sense.Take a look at his Instagram.There's not a single post about a caroutside the context of W Motors.There are photos oftraveling, nice dinners,fine wine, friends, but not cars.Ralph is a fan of luxury,status, exclusivity,and he set out to make a carthat ticked all those boxesthat he and people like him cared about.And he did, the LykanHyperSport is a supercar.Cause any multi-milliondollar car has to be.Compare Ralph Debbas toChristian Von Koenigsegganother CEO who started aboutique HyperCar companyin his 20's and makes limitedrun multi-million dollar cars.Both men talk about whatthey're passionate aboutand what they love about their own cars.Koenigsegg talks about the technologyand the re-imagining of power delivery.While Debass talks abouthis design languageand how expensive the materials are.Imagine looking at two paintings,one is very detailed and realisticand took incredible skill to make,and the other is a bucket of molten goldspilled on a canvas andthen left to cool off,which is more valuable?And more importantly, which is more valid?This is the kind ofargument that has been goingon in the art world for decadesand hasn't really reached cars before.Cars are functional, they're utilitarian.And because of that,we measure their worthby how well they functionagainst each other.So from that perspective,it's easy to think that someone is dumbfor spending $3.4 million on a carthat can get beat by cars that costless than a 10th of that.But when you take performanceout of the equation,that argument doesn't really hold up.So where did we get soturned around on this car?Why did we ever think this car was aboutlap times over clout in the first place?Is it just because it looks quick?The car does what it's supposed to do.It's unique and rare.It looks stylish and it's a status symbol.It's literally the furthestthing there could befrom my kind of car, but itwasn't made for me or you.I've got a bit of a hot take here.I think it's appearance in"Furious Seven" is the reasonpeople think it's a scam.The film showcased itas a high tech hypercarwith performance that was criminalto keep locked away.- Nothing's sadder thanlocking a beast in a cage- But it's not, it's acar for people who thinkthat hyper cars should havediamonds in the headlights.And that is certainly not Dom Toretto.Turns out, that displayroom in the Dubai high risewas actually the right placefor this car, all along.I have a hard time wrapping my head aroundbuying one of these.Because even if luxury andopulence was your style,there are more luxurious offeringsfrom Pugani, Rolls-Royce, and Bentley.But I don't think that I could justifyeven buying one of those.So there's gotta be something elseto having something that is one of seven.And it's just expensive forthe sake of being expensive.Kind of like how a $100,000watch doesn't tell me timeany better than a Casio calculator watch,but people buy it because it's a $100,000.But if there's seven niche billionairesthat the Lykan was designed for,then who's W Motors new car for?W Motors is now sellingthe Fenyr SuperSport.Like the Lykan, it is builton the Ruf CTR3 platformand is basically the samebut without all thediamonds and holograms.It's being limited to a hundred unitsand is an absolutebargain at $1.5 million.But it looks like this oneactually has some functional aero on it.So maybe it'll cool properly.And a lot more footage is out thereof it actually being driven hard.It feels like W Motors is very publiclyand very expensivelygoing through that R&Dthat should have happenedbefore the launchof their first car.Look, at the end of theday, we all love cars.But some people like differentthings about their cars.It doesn't mean that they're wrong.And I think the Lykan isa perfect example of that.Remember that app for the iPhone,when the iPhone first came out?It cost like a thousand dollarsand it didn't do anything.It was like literallycalled the I'm rich app.This is almost like that.- Donut just hit 5 millionsubscribers on YouTube.- And we're so gratefulfor all the supportthat the donut communityhas shown us over the years.- Every meme, every piece of fan art.- Every more power, baby,we see in the commentsfuels us to bring you more stuff.- And to celebrate thismonumentous occasion...- We're releasing thislimited edition stickerthat says..- Hey! I was there whenDonut hit 5 million.-Now you've only got seven daysto order one at donutmedia.comAnd then we're nevergoing to make it again.Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, never.- You guys are the reasonwe make this stuff.Seriously, Thank youso much for being here.- Thank you guys so, so much.- It means the world to me.5 million people, I literally can't evenimagine that number very well.- Honestly, Donut changed my life.Uh, thank you guys somuch for all your support.Uh, I love you.(upbeat music)- Thank you very muchfor watching wheelhouse.If you haven't, hit that subscribe button.We make cool videos like this onenearly every single day.If you're a Donut super freakhit that join button down below.Learn how you can join our discord.Follow Donut at allsocial media @donutmedia.Follow me @nolanjsykesBe kind, take care of each other.See you next time.