How Shockingly Ugly Is The 218mph VLF Force 1?
VLF Automotive’s Force 1 had a bit of a troubled start in life. Aston Martin claimed that designer Henrik Fisker - one of the British company’s ex-employees - had copied the DB10. Fisker - who started VLF as a join venture with former General Motors chairman Bob Lutz and racing driver Ben Keating - responded by opening up a $100 million lawsuit against Aston; as you do.
But, with the car revealed in full at the Detroit motor show we can now see it looks nothing like a DB10. Not unless the DB10 you have in mind has been hooked on crystal meth for the last three years, anyway. In fact, I don’t like the way it looks at all.
It’s preposterously fussy at the front with all those lines, intakes and the tiny headlights (which remind me of the ones you find on the Mazda MX-5). The rear is better - a little Dodge Viper-esque in places - but with more particularly unsubtle gouges and vents, it still looks messy.
Yes, it has a 745bhp and 638lb ft, 8.4-litre V10 from the Dodge Viper and yes, it’ll do 218mph (as well as 0-60mph in three seconds dead). But right now I’m too distracted by the rubbish lettering they’ve used on the boot and the front wing to care. It looks like those naff, generic chrome letters they sell at your local parts store. On a $268,500 car. Seriously?
But maybe I’m being overly harsh. It certainly looks dramatic, and clearly has presence. So what do you think?
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Not as good looking as the Gumpert Apollo, but much more aggressive looking than that.
I think it looks cool but strange. It’s a viper underneath so I’d have the 2015 SRT Viper ACR over it.
Looks a bit like an F-type’s bodybuilder cousin
If they only removed those fugly vents it’d look hella better.
Can you remove the headlights that are closer to the grill and enlarge them and move them further away from the grill. And remove the triangles as well if you can. I think it’ll look cooler that way
Viper back, Aston side, Maserati frontgrill, sized down mustang headlights and tilted 25 degrees clockwise
The rear end was designed by Jack Skellington…
I think it looks good. It looks like a mix of a jaguar xk and a viper.
The front-end looks like the miata went to the gym and got huge, then it took a selfie to show off but was accidentally mid blink on the photo.
Front end looks familiar..
The overall silhouette is fine, but it exaggerates with too many and too fussy details. Too mnay vents and too many lineas everywhere. But if it was simpler, it would resemble quite a lot the current Aston style - that Fisker designed anyway.
That lettering though. Looks like they ran out of money and then noticed they forgot to write a name on the car.