Gumpert sports car manufacturer

GUMPERT Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH
legal form	Company with limited liability
founding	January 1, 2005
resolution	2012 (bankruptcy), 2014 (liquidation)
Reason for dissolution	insolvency
Seat	Altenburg , Germany
management	Roland Gumpert
Number of employees	20th

The Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH is a former sports car manufacturer based in the Thuringian Altenburg .

history

Gumpert sports car manufacture in Altenburg

The manufacture was created through the collaboration between the car tuner MTM - Motoren Technik Mayer and the racing car supplier Nitec Engineering . The aim was to develop a racing car for the road. The project started in 2002; The first model was launched at the end of the year.

In 2003, the former head of Audi Motorsport, Roland Gumpert, took over the project management, and the GMG sports car manufacturer Altenburg was founded a year later . Production of the sports car manufacturer's first series vehicle was supposed to start in autumn 2004, but there were technical and financial problems. Production of the Apollo only started after new partners had been found and the company had been renamed Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur . At first, sales were carried out exclusively through the headquarters in Altenburg, from 2007 the concept was changed and a dealer network has been built up since then.

In 2011, the sports car manufacturer presented the Gumpert Tornante at the Geneva Motor Show . The concept vehicle was to serve as the basis for another model besides the Apollo. The start of production was planned for 2012, but development was discontinued after the desired customer response had not occurred.

In August 2012, the company filed for bankruptcy at the Gera District Court . The bankruptcy proceedings were opened on October 16, 2012. New investors were found in 2013 and on February 20, 2013, the successor company GSM Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur was founded. The purchase had to be reversed because the investors could not raise the money they needed. As a result, two companies with identical names existed at the same time. While the insolvency proceedings continued at Gumpert and production even had to be stopped in June 2013, GSM Gumpert developed the Gumpert Explosion under the direction of Roland Gumpert. At the Geneva Motor Show 2014, both companies presented the new Gumpert Explosion model under the Gumpert brand . It was also announced that production of the Apollo in Altenburg should start again after a facelift of the car; Head of Marketing Harald Schlegel said at the fair that the Gumpert Tornante should also be produced in 2015.

However, on March 21, 2014, the insolvency administrator Görge Scheid announced the sale of the Gumpert sports car manufacturer and its rights to the Apollo and Tornante models to a foreign investor. The two companies went their separate ways. It was also the end of sports car production in Altenburg. Since the investor intended to relocate the headquarters and production of Gumpert and GSM Gumpert also announced that the explosion should be produced under the GSM Gumpert brand from 2014 in Neustadt an der Donau . Production never started at either company, instead it became known at the end of 2015 that an investor from Hong Kong had bought the rights to the sports car manufacturer.

Successor companies

The Chinese consortium Ideal Team Venture, which bought the rights, then founded Apollo Automobil Ltd. based in Hong Kong and the German subsidiary Apollo Automobil GmbH based in Denkendorf , Upper Bavaria , whose managing director Roland Gumpert became. The Gumpert brand disappeared and the Gumpert Apollo was now to be sold under the name Apollo N. Originally, the production of the Apollo was supposed to start again in 2016. The new Apollo Arrow super sports car was also presented at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show . In the same year, however, Roland Gumpert left the company and the start of production of the Arrows and Apollo N were put on hold. Instead, the company introduced the Apollo IE in October 2017 . This was developed and built by the Italian company Manifattura Automobili Torino on behalf of Apollo Automobil. In the future, the Apollo IE is to be built by HWA AG in Affalterbach.

Meanwhile, Roland Gumpert and the Chinese investor Aiways founded Gumpert Aiways Automobile GmbH , which is based in Ingolstadt. The name Roland Gumpert acts as the company's umbrella brand. Since then, the company has focused on the development of sports cars with alternative drive technologies, such as the RG Nathalie with methanol fuel cell technology presented at the Beijing Auto Show in 2018 .

Motorsport

Gumpert Hybrid

Even during the development work, a prototype of the Apollo went straight to third place in the Divinol Cup at the Hockenheimring in March 2004 .

Heinz-Harald Frentzen , Dirk Müller , Marcel Engels and Dominik Schwager started the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in 2006 with an Apollo. A newly developed hybrid motor was used as the motor. In addition to a 5.8-liter V8 biturbo with 382 kW (520 hp), the Apollo also had an approximately 100 kW electric motor. However, the vehicle had to struggle with transmission problems in the conventional combustion segment throughout the race and was only kept in the race by the electric motor. It reached the checkered flag by installing two replacement gearboxes, but was no longer counted.

The goal of the Gumpert sports car manufacturer was to take part in the Le Mans 24-hour race .

Location

Production line

Both the company headquarters and the production facility of the Apollo were located in Altenburg. The sports car manufacture was located in part of a former sewing machine factory in the Alte Fabrik industrial park . Production was located on the first floor of the building. This was possible because the building is on a slope and so the first floor at the rear of the building is at ground level. The production line was designed for around 60 vehicles per year. Many parts of the Apollo were prefabricated by subcontractors. The tubular space frame was manufactured in Altenburg and all parts were finally assembled. Test drives of the Apollo were carried out at Leipzig-Altenburg Airport . In Ingolstadt there was also a branch of the sports car manufacturer.

emblem

The emblem shows a white griffin on a red background. According to Gumpert, the griffin combines the speed of the eagle and the strength of the lion, qualities that should also be associated with the sports car. The whole thing is framed by a golden border with the name Gumpert on the top. With the first prototype, the emblem was kept in a different color. So the griffin was yellow and was on a dark green background. The frame was the same yellow as the griffin.