Shmee150's Zenvo TSR-S (w/ startup)
A very rare 2022 Zenvo TSR-S owned and driven by Tim Burton (a.k.a. Shmee150), arriving at and leaving Ancillary Studios at South Coast Plaza during its Pre-Monterey Gathering (a.k.a. "Prebble"), hosted in partnership with Zuma Cars & Coffee. Introduced in 2018, the TSR-S is a street-legal version of the track-only TSR. It is powered by a twin-supercharged 5.8-liter V8 engine producing 1,177 hp (1,360 hp on E85 fuel) and features a multi-axis active "Centripetal Wing". This example, chassis no. 04 of 10, is finished in bespoke purple (Lilla Perlemor) paint with green (Lime Grøn) accents and purple tinted carbon fiber.
There was a time when many U.S. car enthusiasts didn't pay much attention to Koenigsegg and Pagani simply because there was no chance of seeing those cars on our roads. Obviously, that has now changed, with some of the brands' most prominent owners and collectors located right here in the States. The story seems to be repeating itself with Zenvo. In 2009 The Danish company began producing its first car, the ST1, and none of the 15 units built were destined for America. New models were subsequently introduced, but I never quite wrapped my head around all of them. (ST1? TS1? TSR-S? TSRSR-SRSRS!?) After all, there was pretty much no chance of me catching one here... until now.
Yes, Shmee's car is only here in the U.S. because of Monterey Car Week. But that only makes it more of a treat. This spec certainly wild-looking. I won't deny it looks like Barney, but at least it's an angry, powerful Barney with serious attitude. That massive rear wing is definitely something special. I've seen videos of the wing in action - it looks a bit odd, but it certainly takes active aerodynamics to the next level. I wonder if it can be manually controlled by the driver; it would be a pretty neat party trick to rock the wing back and forth to wave goodbye when leaving a car show!
In May 2022, Zenvo announced that it was opening its first U.S. dealership. Since then, I haven't been aware of any actual vehicles here other than a couple demo cars that have occasionally appeared at special events. Maybe the newly introduced Aurora will help change that. It often takes years for such exclusive brands to establish dealer networks, gain publicity, and attract enough customers to make even a slightly noticeable dent in the market, and there are numerous examples of companies that ultimately failed to do so. But hey, Koenigsegg and Pagani both made it, right? Maybe in a few years we'll start seeing Zenvos here that don't look like purple dinosaurs!
Do you think Zenvo will be successful in entering the U.S. hypercar market? Leave a comment on YouTube and let me know!