{"id":475955,"date":"2026-05-31T09:57:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T09:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/475955\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T09:57:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T09:57:22","slug":"a-british-icon-returns-with-720-horsepower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/475955\/","title":{"rendered":"A British Icon Returns With 720 Horsepower"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AC Cars celebrates its 125th anniversary, as it looks to increase production from 100 cars to 1,000 cars per year.<br \/>\nThe Cobra GT Coupe is a major part of that plan, with up to 720 hp on tap and a Le Mans-inspired design.<br \/>\nThe AC Cobra GT Coupe starts at around $315,000 for the 443-hp version, or $345,000 for the 720-hp model.<\/p>\n<p>AC Cars considers itself the oldest active vehicle manufacturer in Britain. That timeline isn&#8217;t exactly a continuous one, but we&#8217;re not here to quibble during the automaker&#8217;s 125th anniversary. Instead, let&#8217;s celebrate its latest creation: the new Cobra GT coupe.<\/p>\n<p>The newest model from the AC Cars factory is a throwback to the AC A98 Le Mans race car. That car once hit 185 mph on a public motorway and remains a one-off model from AC. This new Cobra GT Coupe, however, has far grander plans for production.<\/p>\n<p>AC wants to start cranking out more cars, a lot more, in fact. And this new coupe, along with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motor1.com\/news\/667025\/ac-cobra-gt-roadster-debut\/\" data-inline-widget=\"internal-links\" data-type-id=\"0\" data-params=\"%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22667025%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%22ac-cobra-gt-roadster-debut%22%7D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recently revealed Cobra GT Roadster<\/a>, celebrates the brand&#8217;s past while looking to the future.<\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/16x9-tr.png\" alt=\"AC Cobra GT Coupe\" width=\"16\" height=\"9\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by: AC Cars<\/p>\n<p>Ford V8 Power<\/p>\n<p>AC Cars knows what Cobra customers want: a big stonking V8 and wide hips. This car gives both of those in spades. Up front, AC packs a Ford-sourced 5.0-liter V8, and you can spec that mill to be naturally aspirated or supercharged.<\/p>\n<p>The standard version produces 433 horsepower and 410 pound-feet of torque, while the upgraded version doles out a massive 710 horsepower and 605 pound-feet. Both engines are offered with either a six-speed stick or a ten-speed automatic gearbox.<\/p>\n<p>According to AC Cars, the Cobra GT Coupe features a 50:50 weight balance. The curb weight is around 3,500 pounds. And this pocket rocket should be good for a 0-60 mph dash of just 3.5 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/16x9-tr.png\" alt=\"AC Cobra GT Coupe\" width=\"16\" height=\"9\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photos by: AC Cars<\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/16x9-tr.png\" alt=\"AC Cobra GT Coupe\" width=\"16\" height=\"9\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photos by: AC Cars<\/p>\n<p>So how will it help usher in a new era for AC Cars? The automaker recently acquired a new production facility. This should allow the brand to increase its production rate from 100 hand-built cars to 1,000 cars per year.<\/p>\n<p>The plan is to offer the coupe, the roadster, and a classic version as well. As for this new coupe, first deliveries are slated to begin in 2028, with both left- and right-hand-drive models on offer. The starting price is around $315,000 for the standard motor setup or $345,000 for supercharged models.<\/p>\n<p>Motor1&#8217;s Take: It&#8217;s always great to see a fresh version of the Cobra that doesn&#8217;t mess with the formula. AC Cars pairs an extruded aluminum chassis with a carbon-fiber body and a big V8, and that&#8217;s basically perfect. That&#8217;s what an AC Cobra buyer wants. Here&#8217;s hoping that the production increase actually happens, which could also help drive the price\u00a0down slightly, making the car even more attractive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"comfort-title-large flex gap-spacing-sm-base items-center\">\n<p>\t\tWe want your opinion!\n\t<\/p>\n<p>What would you like to see on Motor1.com?<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.motor1.com\/survey\/2025\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tTake our 3 minute survey.\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"compact-body-medium\">&#8211; The Motor1.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AC Cars celebrates its 125th anniversary, as it looks to increase production from 100 cars to 1,000 cars&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[205342,80250,25493,205343,205344,6612,45664,148967,61,60,3560,43,63462,175944,77480,80],"class_list":["post-475955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ac-cars","tag-b2c","tag-classics","tag-cobra-gt-coupe","tag-cobra-gt-roadster","tag-coupe","tag-ford","tag-high-performance","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-luxury","tag-news","tag-petrol","tag-roadster","tag-supercar","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}