For the past few decades, various British engineers and businessmen have attempted to build sports cars under the Trident name with as much luck as a broken umbrella in London. Today, Trident announced it would finally show its production-ready car in public next month -- the Trident Iceni Grand Tourer, a diesel-powered machine that should hit 200 mph while returning 69 mpg on a variety of fuels. It could be fantastic -- if it's for real.
The latest version of Trident says it's using a 6.6-liter turbocharged diesel that combined with some undescribed system its calling Torque Multiplication that's good for 430 hp and 950 ft.-lb. of torque; those with additional pounds at their feet can pay for upgrade to 660 hp and 1,050 ft.-lbs. In the base version, the Iceni can reach 60 mph in 3.7 seconds.
By using a diesel, the Iceni GT can burn a variety of fuels, from regular diesel to used restaurant oils, and at cruising speed of 70 mph, can travel 2,000 miles on a tank of gas. If all these figures sound too good to be true, it's because they are a bit; it's not that diesel engines aren't capable of fantastic performance, but that the technology for doing so usually takes more engineering than a handful of people can pull together. While Trident didn't reveal much about the engine, General Motors builds a 6.6-liter diesel in its trucks good for 397 hp and 765 ft.-lbs.
Trident also didn't release the weight of the Iceni, which should be a substantial disadvantage to any of its competitors. With the company taking orders next month and vowing production by the end of the year with a starting price of $119,000, we'll see how sharp this Trident is soon.
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