Over 250bhp per tonne from a 1.5 – this is Gordon Murray's new supercar

Alas we are not about to unveil it: that’s coming later. But what Gordon Murray Automotive – the F1 and road car design legend’s new car-making company – is announcing today are a few stats to get the juices flowing. Along with confirmation that the first Gordon Murray Automotive-badged car will be “an everyday-usable coupe with not only exceptional performance capabilities, but also class-leading ergonomics, visibility, and cargo capacity.”

Add the sportscar holy trinity of lightweight, torsional stiffness and durability that Gordon’s latest iStream chassis construction brings with it, and you can see that the antidote to hybrid hypercars is shaping up nicely.

There’s a lot we don’t know; the wheelbase is 2,500mm (an inch longer than the Porsche 718 Cayman’s) but the other measurements (3,640mm long, 1,750mm wide, 1,240mm high) are for the rolling chassis only, sans body. And we don’t know yet what that will look like, though you can guess at thin pillars, lots of glass and a practical boot. The design sketch issued last year gives a McLaren F1-esque hint.

The mid-mounted 1.5 three-cylinder engine develops 220bhp and runs to a six-speed manual gearbox. How fast? Without knowing its aero there’s no way of guessing its top speed. But from what Gordon Murray has told us in the past this car will not be about breaking speed records, more the way it delivers its speed.

That 259bhp per tonne does however allow us to speculate on what it is up against in the 0-62mph stakes. 259bhp/tonne is Alfa Romeo 4C and Lotus Elise 1.8S territory, suggesting a 0-62 of around 4 seconds. Which would put it ahead of a Porsche Cayman S and Alpine A110. We won’t mention other cars with far superior power/weight ratios – BAC Monos, Ariels and Caterhams – because presumably in GMA’s book they don’t qualify as “everyday” motors.

iStream Superlight is at the heart of the new sports coupe, which GMA says will be the first, but far from the only, car to utilise it. In essence it’s a thin-wall aluminium frame containing honeycomb chassis panels made of recycled carbon-composite – similar to any iStream structure (such as is being used by the reborn TVR Griffith) but lighter and stiffer. And more expensive? Not necessarily, for the strength is in the frame not the body which doesn’t need to be exotic.

GMA says iStream Superlight reduces vehicle body weight by up to 50 per cent compared to a stamped steel monocoque, while its modular nature means it can be adapted to suit every segment from sports cars to electric city cars to SUVs and vans. GMA has announced a new licensing model to get the car-makers interested in using it. Bentley is already interested, having been one of GMA’s partners in the research project. An iStream seat using the same technology has also been announced, with claims that it is 30 per cent lighter than a typical car seat.

Gordon Murray told us: “The new iStream Superlight approach to vehicle manufacturing will deliver the lightest chassis technology for decades to come. It is a unique, adaptable and cost-effective way for manufacturers around the world to dramatically improve vehicle performance and efficiency.”

Not forgetting giving us a brilliant new light and fast, pure driving machine, one Gordon has said will “demonstrate a return to the design and engineering principles that have made the McLaren F1 such an icon.”

So who’s not excited?