Supercar concept gets built from stuff Birmingham makes

Supercars probably aren't what you'd immediately associate with Birmingham. But if you turn Britain's second city upside down and shook it around a bit, you'd find all the required components to build this scattered on the carpet.

It's called the Birmingham Bolt Concept, it was created by investment body, Business Birmingham, to demonstrate just that.

BB's transport technologies and manufacturing investment manager, Martyn Mangan, says: "The majority of The Bolt's body, chassis, interior and underlying componentry could be supplied locally - seeing this design or one very much like it accelerate from the drawing board and onto roads in under 18 months using our existing research, development and manufacturing base."

Weight and performance figures are estimates at this stage, but predications sugges that it'll be a not entirely obese 1450kg thanks to using a combo of composite materials and aluminium for the chassis and body panels.

Several drivechain options are in the works, but a hybrid 34-kW electric motor sandwiched between a six-speed semi-automatic transmission and a 3.5-litre V6 tops the short list. It's estimated to deliver 30-35 mpg, more than 300bhp, 0-62mph in 4.2sec and a top speed over 185mph. We'll have to wait till later this week to see the finished article at this year's Delhi Auto Expo. 

Surprisingly, disappointingly, there's not a Chicken Balti in sight.

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