What Mystery Model is VLF Planning?

Short answer: it’s anyone’s guess.

Michigan-based specialty car company VLF Automotive, maker of heavily modified versions of (mostly) existing vehicles, plans to slap a unique bodystyle on a well-known mass-produced model, The Detroit Bureau reports.

The news comes as VLF readies a Corvette-powered, restyled Fisker Karma for sale, alongside a 700-horsepower Mustang and rebodied Dodge Viper.

VLF is the brainchild of ex-Detroit Three executive Bob Lutz and industrialist Gilbert Villarreal, with help from Henrik Fisker (of Fisker Karma fame infamy). The Auburn Hills operation aims to be a low-volume, high profit manufacturer of big-buck specialty models.

Low volume is a given, considering that VLF’s main model, the Destino, uses bought-back Fisker Karmas as a canvas. VLF removes the plug-in hybrid drivetrain, replacing it with a Corvette ZR1-sourced LS9 V8 engine making 639 horsepower and 604 pounds-feet of torque. Only the roof, doors and windshield remain original, with the company replacing everything else with custom-built fiberglass or composite body panels.

The carbon fiber-bodied Force 1 V10 uses the Dodge Viper as it base, while production of the Ford Mustang-based Rocket — once offered by California’s Galpin Motors through a partnership with Fisker — will soon move to VLF.

While the company’s offerings are simply revised, hotter offerings of well-known products, a future product will see VLF offer a unique bodystyle.

As Lutz told The Detroit Bureau, the models will be “based on a high-volume model from a major manufacturer, totally transformed into a body style that manufacturer doesn’t offer.”

The former executive wasn’t willing to shed any more light on the model’s identity.

That mystery model, initially offered only to European customers, should cost around $90,000. However, the automaker plans to eventually offer it in the U.S. — part of the company’s long-term survival plan. With a goal of producing 1,000 vehicles per year, Lutz claims VLF is “set up to make serious money at extremely low volumes.”

[Image: VLF Automotive]