In the world of competitive commerce, automotive companies have risen, then fallen. Many car companies have come and gone, taken down by the cold hard beating heart of competition. We know their names and there are many we never knew existed. And then one day, many years, often decades after that little known automotive brand ceased to exist, an individual with deep pockets decides its time to raise Lazarus from the dead. Delage is one such company resurrected for the express purpose of creating a one-off Ultracar. Founded in 1905, Delage was a luxury carmaker, the French company built 40,000 cars before going defunct in 1954.

Now suddenly from nowhere here is the Delage D12 GT, a hybrid ultracar. The Delage D12 is conceptually loosely based on a Formula One car. However, the D12 has a canopy enveloping the cockpit that opens upward to gain access. The Delage will be powered by a 7.6-liter V12 and an electric motor which yields a combined total of 1,100 bhp.

However, despite the overwhelming use of carbon-fiber, the Delage D12 GT has a dry weight of around 1,600 kg. There is also a second model derivative, the Delage Club that weighs around 200kg less and is slightly less powerful. But only 30 D12s will ever be made and each has an asking price of $2.3 million.

But the real question is, who is spending the time and money to make what is nothing more than a rich man’s plaything?  A rich man is the only answer. The Delage D12 isn’t being made by Bob and Stewart from the local pub who are relying on good faith and a dodgy pre-order system by using good old fashioned charlatanism. No, this isn’t TVR. 

The Delage CEO is Laurent Tapie, son of French entrepreneur Bernard Tapie who has an estimated net worth of $200 million. So the Delage D12 is made by the rich for the ultra-rich. Yes, $200 million is considered to be… not very wealthy these days.