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Danish Delight: Inside The $1.8 Million Zenvo ST1 Supercar

This article is more than 10 years old.

All you need to know about the Zenvo ST1 is that unless you're Carlos Slim, Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, it's out of your price range.

Here's what you want to know: It's a Danish-made, 1,250-horsepower supercar that goes 0-60mph in 2.9 seconds and has a top speed of 233mph. It has a 7-liter, V8 engine that sports 1,050 ft-lb of torque with rear-wheel drive on 7-speed manual transmission. The entire body, and most of the trim, is carbon fiber. It weighs 3,000 pounds.

Only 15 of the ST1 will be made, with three slated for U.S. showrooms. Those specimens have already generated plenty of interest from high profile figures, as you can well imagine, but the bulk of the buyers will be anonymous, says Bobby Khan, the president of New Jersey-based Emporio Motor Group. The dealership is the only place in the U.S. that will sell the car.

Celebrities love the car, Khan says, but they tend to have incomes that fluctuate. The serious cash comes from hedge-fund founders and oligarchs.

Indeed. The base price for this thing is $1.8 million. Upgrades like ceramic brakes, paddle-shifting transmission, carbon wheels, a roll-cage, a car cover and customized leather interior cost much, much more.

Trifle with this toy at your own considerable financial risk: Tire replacements alone cost $5,000, plus fees. (Did I mention ground clearance on this is about 4 inches?)  The specialized luggage for the front-situated trunk costs $30,000. Oh, and the car has to be shipped to Denmark for any major repairs.

That clearly doesn't worry the first person who plunked down the $500,000 security deposit: a Russian billionaire--no, not that one--who choose a customized blue paint job and carbon fiber rims for his new baby.

Khan says he tried to talk the guy out of the tires--one botched pothole and the entire wheel would need replacement--but Mr. Russia would have none of it.

"He said, I want it because I want it," Khan told me.

And he's got it all figured out: The plan is to drive the car on a flatbed truck near the club du jour, unload it, drive it several blocks the rest of the way to the club, make an entrance, and then leave the car parked out front. Then rinse and repeat for le grand departure.

Well, that's one way to do it. Call it clubbing à la tycoon.

Follow me on Twitter: @HannahElliott