Why do car brands love product placement? Let us count the ways!
The most powerful effect can be instant and global — delivering a lift in brand awareness and consideration that would otherwise take 50 agencies, localized creative and perhaps $100-million in measured media spending.
When done right, it really is magical. Crossing borders and languages instantly, becoming part of the cultural zeitgeist and a piece of cinema history for all time.
In addition, weaving a car into the plot of a film can show off its performance, dynamic poise, interior and exhaust/engine notes simply by driving the car on screen.
Evidence of movie magic for cars is everywhere. Bond and Aston Martin are probably the best-known collaboration, but there is a new supercar on the block in 2015.
On the block… buster!
LYKAN REVEALS BEAST INSIDE — in 3D HD
Furious 7 with Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and Jason Statham is set to become the highest-grossing car movie of all time. And let’s face it, car movies usually suck. Even for hardcore, extreme car guys like us — for every Goldfinger there are 20 flops like 2014’s Need for Speed.
W Motors’s debut supercar, the Lykan HyperSport, is so cool and exotic that Furious 7 was basically written to feature the car. A car so rare that only seven have been made, and no one we know has ever even seen one in person. Priced at $3.5-million and only street-legal outside Europe and the US, the Lykan is a twin-turbo hero as a car in its own right.
The first Arabian supercar, with its pure, spotless white factory showroom inside a Dubai skyscraper, the Lykan lives the life we all dream about.
Lives the FF7 stars live — filled with high stakes gambles and high performance driving.
The Lykan is so cool that Hollywood came to them to ask to use the car. No media/marketing agency. No massive up-front payment and delivery of 300 GM cars to be wrecked on camera, a la Transformers.
You can could the number of red Lykan HyperSport’s on one finger. There is just one.
So imagine W Motors CEO Ralph Debbas reading the stunt plan and FF7 script. Lykan is kept in a 90-story-high penthouse vault.
From the video clip above, we can see the Lykan’s firey intro to global movie buffs — blasting through a brick wall, through a palatial floor of the high-rise, and out the window at full speed. The 2.8-second 60-mph sprint is helpful here, making the Lykan fly across a plaza — nearly a half-mile up from the ground below — and crashing through the glass of the skyscraper next door.
You’ll have to go see the movie for the full plot of this dramatic scene, but one thing is for sure: you will have a new hypercar icon in your fantasies afterward.
The Lykan is also making its Asian debut next week from April 20th in Shanghai.
Buyers can try to convince W Motors to build one to their wild custom spec, or can look forward to the hoped-for targa, GT3 and perhaps full ragtop versions in the coming years. W Motors just signed deals for new showrooms in Miami, Singapore and Shanghai – opening in 2016.
The team is working to make future models road-legal in more markets, but this is less of an issue than you might think. Many owners are so powerful that they have found ways to make the Lykan road-legal where-ever they choose. Example? See the Monaco license plates in the drive photos at the bottom of this page!
Also on the horizon for the Lykan is a SuperSport follow-up model around 2018.
2015 W Motors Lykan HyperSport
W Motors’ Lykan HyperSport: The supercar that became a star
Hero car of Fast and Furious 7
Dubai – April 7, 2015: W Motors, the first Arab developer of high performance luxury sports cars based in the United Arab Emirates had its notorious Lykan HyperSport featured in the latest Fast & Furious 7 blockbuster as the hero car of the movie! Released during the first week of April 2015, the movie already broke the box office record by gaining more than 400 million Dollars during its first opening week.
Earlier this month, it is in Beijing that Universal launched the press conference of Fast & Furious 7 for the Asian region in the presence of the film’s stars Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Michellle Rodriguez and the Red Lykan HyperSport as the highlight of the press event.
For the first time in the multibillion-dollar franchise, Vin Diesel chooses to drive a hypercar along his famous black dodge charger. For this seventh movie, Universal producers and stunt coordinators needed a car that was really different from the ones driven in all of the previous Fast and Furious movies, “something that they don’t see everyday” stating that “what makes the Lykan HyperSport so special is that it is so rare, exclusive, unique and to top it all the first United Arab Emirates based Supercar”.
As for the incredible scene that stole the spotlight and got the whole world’s attention, the Lykan HyperSport jumps through three of the Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi, breaking the buildings’ facades until it plunges 45 floors before hitting the ground. This impressive stunt was the first of its kind amongst all of the courageous stunts performed throughout the Fast & Furious franchise.
Speaking of the Lykan during the key movie scene, late Paul Walker’s character Brian O’Conner states excitingly: “There are only seven of these in the world and this guy keeps his locked up in a vault” with Vin Diesel’s character Dom reply: “There’s nothing sadder than locking a beast in a cage,” before taking it out for a little spin.
According to Ralph R Debbas, Chairman and CEO of W Motors Company, several Lykan cars were built to ensure the success of the thrilling stunts carefully choreographed for this movie. W Motors CEO states: “It is an honor for us to be featured in this Hollywood blockbuster and to have been part of the team who have worked very hard to pay tribute to the late Paul Walker. The whole adventure has been thrilling from the start and we are gaining tremendous exposure and international recognition since the release”.
Following its first appearance in Beijing China, at the Fast and Furious 7 press conference, the Lykan HyperSport will be making its first Asian debut at the Shanghai International Auto Show that opens its doors from April 20th till April 29th 2015.
A real marvel, the Lykan HyperSport comes with a plethora of unique features. A Flat 6 twin-turbo mid-rear engine, offering 780HP and 1000NM of torque, 7 Speed Dual Clutch transmission, 0 to 100 KM/H in less than 2.8 seconds with a maximum speed of 395 KM/H. It also features a one of a kind holographic display with interactive motion and tactile interaction, an advanced ID4Motion dashboard and a uniquely developed reverse mechanical doors system. Adding a touch of modern luxury, the “Lykan” comes with diamonds and sapphires encrusted LED lights, a 24h/24h Global Elite concierge service provided by Quintessentially Lifestyle and an exclusive watch specially designed by Franck Muller Geneva and dedicated to “Lykan” owners only.
W Motors is the first automotive manufacturer of high performance luxury sports cars based in the United Arab Emirates. The Company plans to move its assembly and production facilities from Torino Italy to the UAE and has also relocated its headquarters to Jumeirah Lake Towers where the team will expand progressively along the coming years to accommodate the expansion of the Company.
http://www.wmotors.ae/index.html
Tom Burkart is the founder and managing editor of Car-Revs-Daily.com, an innovative and rapidly-expanding automotive news magazine.
He holds a Journalism JBA degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Tom currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his two amazing dogs, Drake and Tank.
Mr. Burkart is available for all questions and concerns by email Tom(at)car-revs-daily.com.