A SUPER RARE 2022 APOLLO INTENSA EMOZIONE IN OCEAN DRAGON SPEC HEADED TO AUCTION - SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.
There are exotic cars. There are hypercars. And then there are machines so wild, so uncompromising, they feel like they’ve fallen out of a parallel universe where the only law is speed. The Apollo Intensa Emozione - Italian for Intense Emotion - lives firmly in that last category, and the example now headed to auction might just be the most visually hypnotic of them all. They call it the Ocean Dragon, and it’s one of just ten ever built. Four landed in the United States. This is one of them. To understand the Intensa Emozione, or “IE” to those lucky enough to speak of it in the first person, you have to rewind to the days of Gumpert. The German marque made a name for itself in the mid-2000s with the Gumpert Apollo, a car as fast as it was awkward to look at. But after Gumpert went into insolvency, Hong Kong entrepreneur Norman Choi saw an opportunity to resurrect and reimagine the brand. Under his leadership, and in collaboration with Italian design house Manifattura Automobili Torino (MAT), the Apollo name was reborn in 2017 with a singular mission: build the most visceral, analogue hypercar in a digital, electrified age.
Chief designer Jowyn Wong was handed the brief, and what he came back with looked less like a car and more like something that might chase down spaceships in a sci-fi blockbuster. The design pulled from nature, motorsport, and even marine life - flowing forms with purposeful aggression, punctuated by an enormous Le Mans-style fin and multi-element wings. In a world where so many performance cars are slaves to wind tunnel data, the IE manages to be functional and theatrical, producing over 1,350 kg of downforce at 299 km/h while looking like an automotive predator. Each IE starts with a carbon fibre monocoque chassis weighing just 105 kg, supplied by Capricorn Group. Final assembly was handled by the masters at HWA AG in Affalterbach, Germany, a company better known for building race-winning Mercedes-AMG machinery. The bodywork is pure carbon fibre, with strategic use of titanium, high-strength steel, and aluminium to keep mass low and strength high. Total dry weight: 1,250 kg.
At the core is a naturally aspirated 6.3-litre V12, co-developed with Autotecnica Motori in Italy. It’s an engine that spits in the face of turbocharging trends, delivering 780 horsepower at 8,500 rpm and 760 Nm of torque at 6,000 rpm, with a 9,000 rpm redline and an operatic soundtrack that has to be heard to be believed. Zero to 60 mph happens in 2.7 seconds, top speed is 217 mph, and the car’s Hewland 6-speed sequential gearbox - paddle-shifted but brutally mechanical - is motorsport-grade hardware adapted for the road. The suspension setup is pure racing inspiration too: a Bilstein three-way adjustable pushrod system with geometry dialled for circuit abuse, tied to a Pankl Racing Systems differential for surgical traction. Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes haul it down from warp speed, lap after lap.
The cockpit features carbon fibre race seats wrapped in Alcantara with red accents, a roof-mounted digital display that puts vital data in the driver’s eyeline, and a quick-release steering wheel. It’s not minimalist in the spartan sense, the craftsmanship and attention to detail elevate it far above stripped-out track specials, but everything exists to serve the act of driving. The car offered here, chassis W091E2173MAA71004, is a 2022 build and carries the Ocean Dragon name for obvious reasons. Its bare carbon fibre is finished in a colour-shifting tint that flows from deep oceanic blue to misty green, depending on the light. It’s a look that stops car people and non-car people in their tracks. Delivered new in June 2023 to a Connecticut-based collector with a garage full of hypercars, it made its public debut the same month at the Concorso Ferrari in Farmington, Connecticut. From there, it was shipped to Monterey for Car Week, where it became one of the most talked-about cars on display. With only 340 miles on the odometer, it’s barely been exercised, which is fitting for a machine more exclusive than most modern art.
A year ago, the Ocean Dragon changed hands. The new owner began a partial interior refit removing everything except the dashboard, and also pulled part of the fuel system. The work was paused midway, meaning the next owner gets a blank canvas to commission an interior to their own spec, whether that’s a faithful restoration of the original or a wilder, more personalised vision. Included in the sale are the original seat bucket, removed fuel system components, a car cover, and other spares. The car hasn’t run in the past year, so a mechanical recommission is recommended alongside the fresh interior install. For collectors, that’s either a hurdle… or an irresistible opportunity to make the car uniquely theirs.
When the gavel falls, the Ocean Dragon is expected to fetch between $2,500,000 and $3,500,000 - roughly R44,000,000 to R62,000,000. In a market where ultra-low-production hypercars can appreciate as quickly as they accelerate, that might not just be a display-piece purchase. It could be a future crown jewel.
Take a look at the YouTube video shot by Nitrous Fox when one was spotted out in the wild in the exact spec of the one that's come up for sale through Bonhams. How damn cool is this thing? It better be considering that price: Apollo IE “Ocean Dragon” in 4K HDR 60fps | NitrousFox
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