Kind of. Back in the 1980s and 1990s Monolith competed in the Rally Paris-Dakar, which eventually resulted in short wheelbase mid-size SUVs (think Range Rover Classic or Nissan Patrol) being stuffed with 8.0 Liter V12 engines and two huge great big Turbochargers. THAT is our idea of a Hot Hatch.
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People who are looking to buy a real truck would choose Monolith over Saminda , Saminda Tonaro or CR7 drive just like a car and can’t tow much
And their trucks are FWD…
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That’s awesome though. Heck, I would love to see a racing league for these sorts of vehicles…
Lol:
The S-Series is very much a middle ground between [passenger car based pick-ups like the Fiat Strada or Holden Ute and purpose-built mid-sized trucks like the Ford Ranger], as it does not use a ladder chassis like the larger trucks, instead it utilizes a modified van chassis similar to the Honda Ridgeline (aka Saminda CR7), and as a result the payload and towing capacity are not quite at the same level of “real” trucks, however it is therefore much lighter and delivers superior on-road driving dynamics and greatly improved fuel economy.
I have not seen a better high-performance truck than this, as far as I am aware. Does this beast have any more potential waiting to be unleashed?
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Well for one it has a Diesel engine in a relatively tame state of tune…
I’d say only via engine, but it would bring higher fuel consumption, and I had a goal of not making another gas guzzler… You can’t really get away with much more with this chassis.
Let’s put a bigger Diesel engine in it…
I could go for seeing it with a bigger Diesel in it.
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seams Squidy knows something we don’t diesel powered racing utes next year in Aus
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Roit’ mate! We Aa gon put vee ayt in dis pikop trok, rayt?
[/bad australian accent parody]
Also @awildgermanappears Yeah, it could do good with a good v8 diesel for some of that sweet torque.
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IMP does not produce a passenger car V8 Diesel ATM, there is the 4.25L D642M from the Monolith M-X, M161, Artisan and IMP Opera, and the updated 5.7L Inline Six Diesel with 450hp and 1150Nm from the 2017 Artisan Full-Size truck, the largest and most powerful we currently produce (for vehicles that can be driven without a truck license)
And then there is still the option of going petrol for maximizing laptimes and minimizing NOx emissions.
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#2006 Schwarzwald
Quickly failing sales of the KHT Bahn has pushed the company into troubling times, with the most profitable branch of the company actually being the aftermarket division, while the standalone car factory has been racing up losses ever since early 2000’s. By 2004 a new car has been envisioned, and contracts and components went into development.
First contract was struck with Dimension Motors, co-operating the development of Dimension’s new platform used in the Seven-50. Within a year KHT had a working carbon fiber chassis and production line to be used for the 2005 Grand Tourer (to be released separately by Deskyx). KHT has also managed to squeeze some more life out of the 5 liter twinturbo v8, which was also used in the Seven-50, allowing the engine to finally break even with the development costs, while influx of development funds have allowed to revise the engine once again now sporting VVT for all cams.
This work has been cruicial to KHT as both the chassis and the engine would be used in the car KHT has planned to release just a year after Dimension would release theirs. In a year after the work on the powerplant and chassis has ended another contract was struck, this time with Storm automotive, allowing sourcing the SymTrac technology, from the up-coming 2006 Storm Shadow GT V8.
Marketing department however has cooked up yet another plan, deciding to please both the eco green party, and the high end performance tuner fans. This was achieved by severely limiting the performance of the stock car, but allowing for a wide array of performance upgrades. Being restricted in every way and only running 0.3 bar of boost the engine received huge gains from minor upgrades, making rival tuner companies unhappy, since most clients only required cheap minor modifications to their cars. KHT however reveled in the fact that their performance pack touched up on every restricting part, and left the car on factory 3 year warranty.
The initially released car was not too impressive in terms of engine power, the 5 liter twinturbo v8 produced 390hp and 517nm of torque, mated to a 6 speed manual transmission powering all 4 wheels at a 30/70 split. The super lightweight body and chassis alowed the car to perform admirably, reaching 100kph in 3.3 seconds and toping out at 280kph, returning a 10l/100kph fuel consumption and managing to squeeze in the lowest emissions tax brackets.
This was, however proved disappointing to the hardcore KHT fans, who rejoiced once the TA trim has been announced as a factory option. The $12500 TA pack consisted of a re-worked aero which provided downforce, included in the aero pack were wider quarterpanels for wider wheels, now made of magnesium, instead of regular alloys, wrapped in the super grippy Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta street tires. The brakes were untouched, apart from the brake pads. The TA pack if requested at factory before car’s delivery also included a stripped interior, losing the premium interior and hi-fi ICE, saving yet more weight. The biggest change however was under the hood, where the turbo received an extra 0.7 bar of boost, along with a remap. Completing the changes was the free flowing exhaust system and a performance intake. Bringing the power output of the Schwarzwald TA to 520hp, while losing the option to run the car on 91 ron petrol, instead requiring 98.
The KHT Schwarzwald TA made serious waves in the media when the performance figures were released. The sprint to 100kph was dispatched in 2.6 seconds, and while the top speed saw a minor change (to 285 kph). When tested by Top Gear in 2007 the car managed a lap of Dunsfold in 1:14 flat, destroying the competition. The pricetag of $145,000 for the base model, however did not sit well with the market, where a brand new Porsche 911 turbo or a Ferrari F430 was a better choice for people who wanted easily recognized brand image, and the GT-R did not make things any easier, being twice cheaper while delivering serious performance too.
Not helping things, the move to artificially limit the car, to promote buyers to spend extra money on upgrades has been seen as a greedy move on part of KHT, not helping the company’s image
Production of KHT Schwarzwald has been halted in 2011, without receiving a replacement. The struggling company has seen the production line turning out only debt, at which point 50 limited editions of the car were released, differing by luxury leather interiors and ICE along with a minor bump in power. At that point KHT Adelaide was firmly standing it’s ground against the competition once again bringing KHT from financial trouble by selling in hundreds. KHT hasn’t made a front engined car ever since.
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You are a genius of automotive styling, you realise? I’m mesmerised just by the vents over the back of the rear wheels and on the bonnet, let along those performance figures…
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Why thank you 
Also I’m guessing this marks the end of this thread for now. MAAAAYBE in 2018 I will be able to add a few cars, but I doubt it. Kinda sad really.
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Due, these pics are dope as fuck. Kudos on the effort man, I can hardly imagine how much time it took. Really nice cars!
Roughly just about a year and a half I guess.
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Etourdissant!!!
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Gavin Anderson was given the chance to drive the 2018MY Eau Rouge. Here’s what went down.
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