The all-electric Dendrobium is billed as “Singapore’s first-ever hypercar.” Named after a type of flower native to Singapore, it will debut at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show in March. It’s the creation of Vanda Electrics, a Singapore-based company that makes electric scooters and small cargo vehicles.
Jumping from scooters to supercars seems a bit audacious, but Vanda Electrics will have some help. The Dendrobium was designed in partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering, the engineering division of the Williams Formula One race team. Williams helped develop the Jaguar C-X75 hybrid supercar, although Jaguar canceled the project before production could start. The British firm’s involvement lends at least some credibility to this unlikely supercar project.
Based on the teaser released by Vanda Electrics, the Dendrobium seems to have a fairly inelegant design, although it might look better under the Geneva show lights. Vanda says the car will have an “automatic roof and doors,” indicating it might be a convertible. They will open in a “synchronized, theatrical manner, resembling a fully opened dendrobium flower,” the company says.
Vanda also promises an all-electric “zero-emission” powertrain, but won’t talk performance figures until the Dendrobium’s Geneva unveiling. When it comes to reducing emissions, though, Vanda isn’t just focused on the powertrain. The interior will include leather from Bridge of Weir, which supplies leather to many luxury automakers. Vanda claims the leather will be processed in a way that minimizes its carbon footprint.
Vanda Electrics certainly isn’t the first company with no real automotive experience attempting to build a world-beating supercar. But building any new car is very difficult, which is why most of these upstarts fall by the wayside. We’ll have to wait for the Dendrobium’s Geneva Motor Show debut to judge its prospects, and to see whether this floral supercar is even worth building at all.
