Autoblog and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.Already Beating Its Own TargetSure, the automotive world is marching toward electrification, but a few brave souls are still waving the flag for high-revving, old-school combustion. Gordon Murray Automotive has its own howling V12 track monster, while Aston Martin's Valkyrie keeps showing us what a proper twelve-cylinder can do. Now, there's a new challenger muscling its way into this rarefied club.First shown off in 2024, the Nilu27 hypercar just hit a big milestone: its custom-built V12 fired up for the very first time. Built with New Zealand's Hartley Engines, this naturally aspirated powerhouse is said to have smashed through its original performance targets.A Manual V12 That Screams to 11,000 RPMSitting at the heart of the NILU hypercar is a brand-new 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 with a quirky 'Hot V' setup. Instead of sending exhaust out the sides, the headers are tucked right between the cylinder banks, making for a tighter package and letting heat pour out of the exposed rear engine bay.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe plan was for 1,070 horsepower, but Nilu27 says the first dyno runs have already blown past that number. No final figures mentioned, though, but it sounds like there's still more power to squeeze out before this thing hits the road.Just as wild is the 11,000-rpm redline, putting this engine up there with the highest-revving V12s ever to hit the street. All that fury goes straight to the rear wheels through a seven-speed manual – an endangered species these days.Company founder Sasha Selipanov said hearing the engine run for the first time validated years of engineering work and reinforced the brand's goal of delivering a more visceral alternative to the increasingly digital nature of modern performance cars. Hartley Engines founder Nelson Hartley also described the engine as exceeding expectations from its very first dyno session.Nilu27View the 4 images of this gallery on the original articlePrototype Testing Comes NextNow that the engine's alive and kicking, the action moves to Germany. After some extra fine-tuning and durability tests in Palmerston North, New Zealand, the V12 heads to Nilu27's HQ in Lahr, where it'll finally get dropped into the first driving prototype. That car will be the next big test before this hypercar gets any closer to hitting the streets.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe Nilu27 and Hartley Engines partnership might not stop at just one showstopper. With other manufacturers starting to take notice, the two companies are already talking about teaming up to build high-performance, street-legal engines for anyone bold enough to want one.Nilu27View the 10 images of this gallery on the original articleThis story was originally published by Autoblog on Jul 14, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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