What happened to the Devel Sixteen?

In the vein of "too good to be true", the Arabian 16-cylinder was the answer to Bugatti

By: Stefan Wagner

Jan 4, 2025 at 5:19am ET

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Many sports car fans probably still have this car somewhere in the back of their minds. When the Devel Sixteen was first unveiled at the Dubai Motor Show in 2013, reactions ranged from incredulous amazement to "that's not going to work". The reason was that the car was to be powered by a 12.3-litre quad-turbo V16 with 5,000 PS and more than 5,000 Nm of torque. The top speed was to be 348 mph.

This would make the Sixteen the most powerful and fastest car in the world - if it actually existed. The mid-engined super sports car is the work of the car manufacturer Defining Extreme Vehicles Car Industry LLC, based in Dubai. In 2017, the company announced its intention to offer a 7.2-litre 16-cylinder version with a more reasonable 3,000 PS and a biturbo V8 with 1,500 PS for the road. The 5,000 PS would then be reserved for a pure racetrack version.

It is difficult to say how many examples of the Devel Sixteen were actually built. A handful of prototypes definitely exist. Cars were repeatedly shown at trade fairs and for press photos. Allegedly, there was initially only one car that was ready to drive, but probably more for photos and videos than for real performance on the road.

Gallery: Devel Sixteen

After a "production version" was presented in 2017 and we also received news updates in 2021, it took until 2022, according to a report by supercar.net, before the first (and so far probably only) vehicle was delivered to a Japanese collector, albeit with an eight-cylinder engine. However, it is not known whether the name of this car was also shrunk from Devel Sixteen to Devel Eight.

The V16 was to be manufactured by Steve Morris Engines in the USA. It apparently also ran on the test bench there, but there is no information that a unit actually made it into a finished Devel Sixteen. Meanwhile, Bugatti is already running the third sixteen-cylinder engine in the new Tourbillon.

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The current status at Devel shows that the website is still live and it boasts that it is a "Legend in the history of supercars". Perhaps this brand claim should be reconsidered. On the company's Instagram page, you can see a few differently equipped Sixteens, which suggests that a few were built after all. However, you can't find out what's under the bonnet.

Also on Devel's social media pages is an absurdly brutal-looking 6x6 off-road monster called the Devel Sixty, a production version of which was supposed to be unveiled in 2019. The carmaker is still posting articles about its Sixteen hypercar. The last post about the XXL Sixty off-roader dates back to 2020.