There are countless cars at the Los Angeles Auto Show this year, but few are as intriguing as the Drako Dragon. Sitting deep in a corridor almost hidden from the rest of the show, it sits with its giant gull-wing doors open practically begging people to inquire about it. How many SUVs have what look like albatross wings after all?
Launched as a concept back in 2022, this two-door but four-seat SUV allegedly features some of the wildest specs you’ll ever hear of in a single vehicle. Drako says it’ll make 2,000 horsepower, it’ll have a top speed of over 200 mph, and it’ll be capable of charging at up to 500 kW. All of that can be yours for a cool $290,000, which, by supercar standards, isn’t all that much cash.
Drako is the San Jose, CA brainchild of software entrepreneurs Dean Drako and Shiv Sikand. The pair doesn’t have experience building production cars but they are avid enthusiasts. Lowie Vermeersch is the man responsible for styling Drako models. He’s the same guy who oversaw the design of the Ferrari FF and the 458.
Famous Lamborghini test driver Valentino Balboni works with Drako as a consulting test driver (see above) and racing driver Andy Pilgrim is the brand’s chief test driver. On its face, this all sounds excellent.
When Drako pulled the wraps off of this car it boldly proclaimed that production and deliveries would commence in 2026. Last week, a Drako representative at the show said the brand still planned on a 2026 production date; I’ll be blown away if that actually happens.
There are a few things that make this seem improbable from where I sit. First, there is no doubt that Drako did indeed build at least one or two examples of the GTE, a car somewhat based on the Fisker Karma but with electric motors only. That initially sounds great, but it promised 25 of them, and it hasn’t really done much with the design since 2020, at least as far as I can tell.
Back then, it went as far as to take one to Jay Leno’s Garage for promotion. That didn’t go all that great either, with the famed automotive steward telling co-founder Shiv Sikand that the car didn’t feel like it was making all of its claimed 1,200 horsepower at the time.
The other part that makes me skeptical is how Drako wants to build the Dragon SUV. The company says it’s doing pretty much everything in-house which, as brands like Canoo, Faraday Future, and Fisker have proven (twice in that last case), isn’t the easiest thing in the world.
The chassis is allegedly entirely made from carbon fiber, the first of its kind, says Drako.
“Drako Dragon is the world’s first production SUV with a full carbon fiber structure. This triumph of engineering not only enables the exotic design and gorgeous proportions of Dragon, but also saves 50 percent of the weight of the chassis compared to a traditional SUV while delivering twice the structural rigidity. This huge weight savings helps offset the necessary weight of the battery pack, enabling Dragon to meet or beat weight parity with gasoline-powered super-SUVs.”
That sounds great, though I wonder why nobody else is doing this with SUVs. Before we get to Drako’s performance claims we should also talk about its battery and charging situation. It said in 2022 that this car will charge at up to 500 kW. Tesla only launched a Supercharger station capable of supplying such power this month. In theory, the Dragon can charge to 80 percent of its total range, 420 miles, in just 10 minutes. Oh, and Drako says it’s building the battery in-house too.
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The Dragon allegedly then uses that battery and a quad motor setup to enable a 0-60 mph time of just 1.9 seconds and a top speed of over 200 mph. It can evidently run the quarter mile in just 9.0 seconds. The fact that Drako didn’t just say 8.9 here (as many automakers do) actually surprised me given all of these other bonkers claims. If these figures hold true this would basically be a Porsche Taycan beater, at least in a straight line. But wait, there’s more. The Dragon is evidently also going to be good at going off-road.
In its “Overland” setting it’ll boast 12.4 inches of ground clearance. That’s almost two more inches than you’ll get in a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. No, you won’t be able to rock crawl with the Dragon but just the ability to drive over such tall stuff is wild in a car that will also evidently be this fast.
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We haven’t even talked about the doors, which you probably either find cool or a pain in the butt. Sure, supercars typically have weird doors but they’re not meant to be practical SUVs (except for the Tesla Model X) and that’s why they almost always have two or fewer seats. Access could be tricky, and egress when parked next to other cars could be, too. But again, it’s a supercar. And supercars are meant to look cool.
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While us seeing a production Drako Dragon by 2026 seems a bit unlikely to me, particularly in any sort of significant volume, I’ll be the first to tell you that it would be awesome to see a small company like Drako actually smash it out of the park. To its credit, the Dragon looks just fine in person from 10 feet away. I’d sure love to get a much closer look, though.
Does the world need a 2,000 horsepower SUV with gull-wing doors, more ground clearance than a Hummer EV, and a 200 mph top speed? Absolutely not but it would sure make legacy supercar brands check themselves, and they all need that from time to time.
“The chassis is allegedly entirely made from carbon fiber, the first of its kind”
Hey, another vehicle company did that recently. I think they were called OceanGate.
But seriously, these numbers look and sound like a shitpost I would have come up with in the comments of other concepts with more modest but still outlandish claims (like when Toyota announced last year their 600-mile battery would be available in 2026).
Looks good enough to … dragon
Dragon deez nuts across the hood.
“Last week, a Drako representative at the show said the brand still planned on a 2026 production date …”
I’ll take Things That Are Absolutely Not Fucking Happening for $1000, Alex.
So they building just the 1? How many is required to count as ‘production’? Like if build a car a year in my back yard, I’m producing cars right? And if I charge $2 million a piece for them, I could probably get by doing that. And at that volume no crashworthiness tests or what not to be bothered with, and of course it’ll have at least a umpty…thousand..horses of power.
It looks cool, but comes across very Fisker-y, is that a proper example in Websters now? As in “these candy cigarettes are a Fisker of regular cigarettes.”
I’d say you’re producing cars if you’ve had a WMI assigned from the SAE, at the very least. Which this company has yet to do, with “production” planned within 25 months. If you’re offering uniquely VIN’ed cars in some market in the world, that are built to a set of specifications in series, then as far as I’m concerned it’s in production.
As far as the NHTSA is concerned, you’ll have to certify that it meets all the FMVSS, you do this by affixing a label that says it does. At volume that low, it’s not likely they’ll check your work, but if they do, you’ll be liable for big fines if it’s not compliant. In the U.S. there’s no volume at which you are exempt from this as a complete vehicle manufacturer. You can only bypass NHSTA regs if you sell the car and engine separately (“kits” such as an Ariel), or by building a replica, but in the latter case you’ll still need an EPA certificate, even if it’s electric.
Your results overseas will vary, the EU offers some kind of single type approval but I’ve never dived into that.
The whole idea of a high performance SUV is kind of (extremely) dumb. It’s a tall center of gravity with a high ride height and lots of mass trying to be a low sports car/sports sedan. These are antithetical ideas and it makes the product lousy at everything.
This will never hit production, but I do like the doors.
Seeing the GTE makes me think that given the numerous reincarnations of the Fisker Karma, it has yet to gain much traction. You know what they say: 10th time’s the charm.
Drake is just following the new EV marketing plan set by Elon. Lie until you can do it.
Then continue to lie. That fully autonomous driving still isn’t ready for the real world and was promised back in 2016.
It will be 100% ready in two years. AI is going to fix it.
AI maybe can’t figure out fingers or what arm a hand belongs on, but it will totally have traffic figured out in two years.
I’m a buyer if the Dragon threatens to break me every time I start to drive.
Not happening
I will eat my own shi…. er, at least be substantially surprised if they deliver anything at all in 2026, and colossally surprised if it costs within 50% of the proposed number.
Building insane hypercars is hard but doable. Building an insane hypercar that costs “just” twice what a corvette does is pretty close to impossible.
At first glance, it looks like some chopped a Fisker Ocrean prototype, and glued on the front bumper upside down.
I am definitely in favor of EVs opening the automotive market to niche builders.
But I wouldn’t touch this. At that price, they’re not waiting for my call anyway. I would feel much better if they had announced a partnership with a known supplier of CF tubs for racing cars for the structure. If it’s a CF tub mounted on top of a full frame made of metal, then fine.
If it’s a CF tub expected to handle off-roading in a 5000 pound (guessing here) vehicle with suspension components mounted directly to the tub – hell no. I don’t think I’d trust it even with significant front and rear subframes relying on the tub as the link between the two.
I’m gonna drive my Drako Dragon to a screening of Manos: The Hands of Fate.
Manos, the…hands of fate