Zenvo Wants the Aurora To Be the Driver's HypercarZenvo AutomotiveTrying to find space and carve out your own niche in the hypercar world is a tough one for those not already established. Koenigsegg breaks records. Pagani makes art. Czinger is the bonkers track car. Gordon Murray Automotive aims to be as driver-focused as possible. Bugatti has its own, long-practiced method of crazy, too.But what about Zenvo? You might have heard about the Danish hypercar brand before, considering it's been around since 2007, but this Scandinavian company is aiming to make its biggest break yet as it leads up to the launch of the Aurora. Production versions of the Aurora Tur and Aurora Agil were just revealed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Road & Track sat down with Jens Sverdrup, Zenvo's executive chairman, to see where this next step is headed."It's 100 percent a driver's car," Sverdrup says.Zenvo AutomotiveThe approximately $3 million Aurora might have bonkers numbers from its quad-turbo V-12 engine—1850 horsepower when paired with the hybrid system—but that's not the point.AdvertisementAdvertisement"The media, obviously, goes, ' Oh, they're the most powerful V-12,'" Sverdrup says. "Personally, I couldn't care less. What matters to me is how it feels. How it sounds, how it vibrates, how the throttle response is, the precision. I want as much involvement as a motorcycle. I want you to feel like a cog in the machine. And there's no numbers that can sort of explain that to you, right?"In other words, it halfway sounds like Zenvo is trying to take on Gordon Murray Automotive. That said, transparent output and the extreme performance are unquestionably turned up another notch versus cars like the T.50 or T.33. Zenvo also doesn't offer a manual transmission with the Aurora, leaving all shifting duties to the big paddles behind the wheel. Sverdrup himself admits that philosophically speaking, the Aurora is similar to the Gordon Murray-like hypercars. That's evident in what he and the company use as benchmark vehicles for performance."The NSX is one of the benchmarks," Sverdrup excitedly says. "We're not benchmarking against Bugatti and all that. I'm a huge fan of McLaren 675 LT. But most of the sort of benchmark cars are pretty old. Sixties Lotuses."Zenvo AutomotiveWe'll be mighty curious to find out how Zenvo executed its steering to fall in the same bucket as the sort of cars Sverdrup is comparing it to, but things sound hopeful for now. The Aurora uses hydraulic steering for a reason.AdvertisementAdvertisement"A good car starts with the steering," Sverdrup says. "If the steering is not right, it doesn't matter what you do. It's the thing that speaks to you the most. If you have this sort of fluid, organic, Lotus feeling, steering, which we have."The purposeful nature and Scandinavian design philosophy finds its way into the Aurora, too. Being easy to get in and out of was a key design point. You'll see the interior has a good bit more flash than something like a Volvo, but it still prioritizes function and reliability while being as minimalistic as it can in classic Scandinavian design fashion. Being usable on the day-to-day and still entertaining to drive sounds a touch difficult to achieve with the Aurora's numbers, but that's exactly the challenge Sverdrup wanted to overcome."If a supercar is not fun to drive on a canyon road, who the heck cares about the top speed? If we can't enjoy being stuck in, let's say, L.A. rush hour traffic... that should also be enjoyable," Sverdrup said.Zenvo AutomotiveThe ex-Koenigsegg, Czinger, and Rimac staffer knows firsthand what the other brands might lack, and while he makes it clear that he respects those cars, Sverdrup is also convinced he's found the correct balance of performance between reliability, usability, and pure driving enjoyment.AdvertisementAdvertisement"You know, when you're chasing numbers you start to compromise," Sverdrup says about his experience with other hypercar makers. "You're chasing a Nurburgring lap record, a top speed record, compromises your low-speed performance. Makes the car less fun to drive slowly."Zenvo had its Aurora cars on display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but promises next year we'll be seeing them roaring up the hill at 10,000 rpm. The philosophy behind this new hypercar sounds promising, so let's hope Sverdrup and his team of experienced performance car makers can bring the beast to market.Zenvo AutomotiveYou Might Also LikeIf You Can Only Own One Car, Make It One of TheseThese Are the Most Popular Cars by State