I have been in Formula One for 12 years, and out of that I had one year with the perfect car. – Michael Schumacher
Building a perfect car is not at all an easy job for any manufacturer. So, with the goal of creating an unfiltered and pure driving experience by decreasing weight and increasing performance enters, Netherlands based company, Donkervoort. For almost forty years Donkervoort’s name has been synonymous with lightweight cars, high quality, and craftsmanship. The organization aims to build fast and lightweight cars for those who love to drive both on street and on track. Throughout the first three decades of its existence the organization embraced the super seven designs due to its low weight. However, during the last ten years Donkervoort has shifted its focus towards more high-tech materials and developed new vehicle structures to include higher performance and safety whilst maintaining its weight threshold. The current production model of Donkervoort is the Donkervoort GTO RS, which weighs less than 700 kilograms and produces a whooping output of 400 horse power.
Currently, the company produces 30-50 hand-built cars yearly, and its market is mainly located in Europe with a focus on Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland. All the vehicles from the company have European type approval for small series, allowing the cars not only to be sold in Europe, but in Russia and the Gulf states as well. Although Donkervoort’s cars are road legal, still racing has an especial place in the company’s DNA. On the track, Donkervoort’s cars are known to be very fast and nimble.
Donkervoort fulfills every driver’s dream, each owner can specify the car according to his needs and the company creates that completely personalized car accordingly. Donkervoort is for the passionate driver; for those who knows to tame the car. The car is the ultimate super sports that ensures an unfiltered and pure driving experience and dynamics.
The Perfectionist Leader
Joop Donkervoort is the Founder of Donkervoort Automobielen. He has spent almost 40 years of his life seeking perfection for the finesse that a true sports car must carry. It’s under his leadership that Donkervoort has evolved from a start-up carmaker in a simple shed to the status of recognized sports car constructor in a high-tech environment. Joop shares many characteristics with those of equally self-willed predecessors. Joop shares many characteristics with those of his equally self-willed predecessors, like Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus cars.
Donkervoort Automobielen is a family business; the second generation of Donkervoorts came on board in 2008. Son Denis (30) will continue what Joop has started in 1978.
Unending Search for a Perfect Car
The stubborn mentality of Donkervoort Automobielen helped the organization to go against the stream and to be the pioneer in its industry. Just like David against Goliath, Donkervoort fights its way up in a world between the ‘big boys of industry’ by doing exactly what others do or not do, but what the market demands nonetheless.
While it comes to owning a Donkervoort, it is all about driving without compromising and without a filter along the best roads and most challenging race tracks that our beloved planet has to offer. Donkervoort Automobielens’ top priority is to ensure an optimal experience and top performance of its cars. For the organization, it is the clients, who are the biggest and the most important brand ambassadors. With its wide-range of services, events, and products and its personal relationship with all Donkervoort drivers, the organization hopes to assure its clients of many wonderful, fast, memorable, thrilling and challenging kilometers ahead with Donkervoort.
Owner events include a variety of track days on most challenging race tracks around Europe, including Spa Francorchamps, Hockenheim, LeMans, and Paul Ricard. The annual Donkervoort Ambassador Tour are mainly organized in the most beautiful roads and places in the Alps, the Pyrenees, Italy, Germany, France, and so on.
Cutting Through the Most Challenging Corners and Future Roadmaps
Donkervoort’s strive for perfection is unending. With every car, the company keeps on improving with its own knowledge and the feedback it receives from the drivers or the clients. However, Donkervoort Automobielen creates such a product that eventually brings out emotions, feelings of joy, of excitement, of relaxation of true and pure driving pleasure. The company strives to bring its drivers back to the core of what it is really to drive a car. It’s that feeling that makes a Donkervoort not just a car, but a way of living.
When it comes to operations, Donkervoort Automobielen operates in a very highly competitive field of big players. Its not always easy but Donkervoort often gets picked over its competitors, not only for its product, but due to the emotions attached with the product. The unpretentious family atmosphere and Donkervoort’s no compromise attitude distinguish it from the others.
Donkervoort refuses to spill the beans when it comes to the future. However, 2018 promises to become a special year for the company as it celebrates its 40th anniversary and the company will celebrate that in style.
