The GMA V12’s Future Is Secure

Key Takeaways

• GMA reaffirms commitment to keeping the high-revving Cosworth V12 engine for the T.50 and T.33 models.
• Industry shift towards hybridization won’t sway GMA from using internal combustion with a focus on efficiency.
• Despite environmental concerns, GMA emphasizes the emotional value of their cars and highly efficient V12 engine.

Gordon Murray Automotive is considered a hero brand for automotive enthusiasts, an automaker so supremely committed to driver-car interaction that its existence is anomalous in a world where even Ferrari and Lamborghini have SUVs and are planning EVs. But there’s good news for fans of the bonkers high-revving Cosworth V12 that powers the GMA cars (the T.50, T.33, and their variations), as the Britsh supercar maker has reaffirmed its commitment to keeping the V12 alive as long as possible.

Speaking to CarBuzz recently, GMA brand ambassador, test driver, client liaison, and all-around company nice guy Dario Franchitti (official title: Director of Brand and Product) confirmed that the V12 still has a place in the brand’s future. Previously, it was said the T.33 would be the last non-hybrid model to come from GMA, but when pressed as to whether the recent pushback against electrification – including delays in global legislation banning combustion engines – had affected GMA’s plans for future powertrains, Franchitti admitted those factors have had an effect.

“I think so. I think we’ll keep using the current powertrain as long as we can.”

– Dario Franchitti, Director of Brand and Product, Gordon Murray Automotive

There’s A Place For Naturally Aspirated V12s Alongside EVs, Hybrids, And Hydrogen

He touched on the industry at large, which is seeing a massive push toward hybridization instead of outright electrification. “I think manufacturers, whether it’s small manufacturers or the bigger guys, [they’re] now looking again towards trying to make internal combustion engines that bit more efficient because they’re realizing that hybrid is one of the answers,” says Franchitti, explaining that for GMA, “it’s very much still internal combustion.”

In the grander scheme of things, Franchitti believes “There’s definitely a place for electric cars, hydrogen, internal combustion, hybrid, all these things. But I think there’s definitely a place for what we do [too].” Buyers of cars like the GMA T.50 and T.33 are very different from your average Toyota RAV4 owner. The latter is buying an appliance to get from A to B, a means of effective, practical, efficient transport, but when someone buys a GMA, they do so with their hearts.

“Each one of these cars is a purely emotional decision to buy, but it makes, in my opinion, it makes your life better. It makes you smile and it makes other people smile when they see it.”

GMA’s “Jewel Of A V12” More Efficient Than You Think

When you hear of a V12 engine powering a supercar and capable of revving to 12,100 rpm – the highest-revving production engine in the world – you likely think it’s thirsty and inefficient, but Franchitti describes it as a “beautiful jewel of a V12 engine that is actually so efficient as well,” highlighting how easily people misperceive it based on its performance credentials.

“That’s, I guess one of the misconceptions. This thing is so efficient; in miles per gallon, yeah, but even just, you know, horsepower per [liter] and all that stuff, it’s such an efficient engine.”

And yet that efficiency hasn’t come at the compromise of a driving experience, which was a core ideal Gordon Murray refused to relent on. The T.50 has two driving modes, GT and Sport, with the former rounding off the throttle application both coming on and off the throttle. Franchitti tells us this was an important mode to map out correctly for homologation, but also for emissions, and yet despite this mode needing softer edges, Franchitti says “Gordon wanted razor-sharp throttle response,” recalling Gordon’s brief to Dario and the team.

“Think about a carbureted car, where you come off that throttle and bang, it has that instant response, and I want that instant response back on,” was what Gordon told them. “And we got it,” says Franchitti with a grin on his face, highlighting how a moment like that was a remarkably special moment for the team being able to achieve something with no compromises despite being emissions compliant.

The good news is, the V12 looks like it’s here to stay, and with Gordon Murray Technology – the arm geared toward electric powertrain development – offloaded a few months ago, it looks like the core of GMA will continue to center around this powertrain and sports cars for as long as possible.