Donkervoort stands with five cylinders from Audi

As a small car maker, Donkervoort can still sell cars with gasoline engines after 2035. That’s good news for Dutch automakers, but the ban raises another problem. Donkervoort buys engines from Audi, which will eventually stop producing five-cylinder engines. That is why they will soon have to find another engine dealer in Lelystad.

TopGear Netherlands talks to Denis Donkervoort, the son of the founder and now the boss of the company: ‘I would like to say that at the moment it is 95 percent certain that our cooperation with Audi will end. Paths no longer cross, but have moved further apart. Audi has to electrify, Donkervoort does the exact opposite.’

The Donkervoort F22 is the last five-cylinder from Audi

“We produce very few cars in a volume sense, we do about forty cars a year. We introduced the Donkervoort F22 last December with a production of 75. It looks like we can expand it to 90 units. So that means you have 2 to 2.5 years of production.’

‘If you look at how much has happened in this area in the last two years, we can’t all look into the crystal ball to see what will happen in the next two years. So never say never. It (collaboration with Audi, ed.) is definitely over as it seems now, but who knows, something good will happen.’

The all-new Donkervoort F22 weighs 750 kg and gets 470 hp from a modified Audi five-cylinder. Power is even 500 hp optional free flow exhaust pipe. Of course, the switch is made with a manual gearbox with five (because it is lighter than six). In the entire electric train, friction is reduced by a total of 20 percent.

How will the new engine deliver to Donkervoort?

All the major car brands will stop using combustion engines, so Donkervoort can’t just turn to Ford or BMW. Donkervoort’s new boss thinks he can succeed at another small car maker.

‘Some of our colleagues (from small car brands, ed.) use our Ex-Core and that’s good, because if you’re sitting at the same table and you can ask “we have something good when it comes to the mix, you have something good as about powertrains , we can not do something with that? So we are working on the development of a new power train with a small range of our colleague (small car manufacturers, ed.).

We ask Donkervoort if he wants to give a small hint about the engine supplier of the future: ‘The tip of the veil is that you have to look in other small ranges and therefore not big ranges anymore (supercar manufacturers, ed.). ‘

Will Koenigsegg be the new distributor?

So Donkervoort is in talks with a small car manufacturer that makes its own combustion engines. And if we read between the lines a little, it must be a manufacturer interested in sustainable fuel. Then you will quickly arrive at Koenigsegg. The Swedish supercar maker has the Tiny Friendly Giant, which is a lightweight 2.0-liter three-cylinder that produces 600 hp.

We ask if Koenigsegg will be producing Donkervoort engines in the future. There is a moment of silence, and then Denis says: ‘The main thing is that there is a small row too. out of the box thinking and Koenigsegg is definitely a kind of leader in that. They are a good example for us to see how it can be done and what the possibilities are. Indeed, we are also closely monitoring what they are doing.’

So it remains very interesting who will be able to supply Donkervoort engines in the future. For now, you can still go to Donkervoort in an F22 with that inline five cylinder from Audi.