Meet Ameerh Naran, The Private Jet Entrepreneur Launching The World’s Next Hypercar

Ameerh Naran’s next venture is the one he has been waiting for all his life. The entrepreneur best known as the founder of high-end Vimana Private Jets is today announcing more detail of his plans to launch a new “hypercar”, a term reserved for the top 1% of the rarefied supercar industry. The Naran, with its 1048-horsepower, 5-litre, twin turbo engine, is on target for its launch in August, he says, as he releases the first pictures of the vehicle to tease his audience.

The new car represents the culmination of a childhood dream for Naran, who is now 34. “Growing up in Zimbabwe I decided my purpose in life was to build cars and I’ve been obsessed ever since,” he explains. “I told my parents at the age of four that’s what I would do.”

Still, Naran took something of a detour along the way. A promising racing driver in his teenage years, Naran’s motor sports career never quite took off amid a lack of financing. And while he studied industrial product and automotive design at university on the advice of Ian Callum, director of design at Jaguar and Adrian van Hooydonk, head of design at BMW, who he had approached at just age 14 for advice on a career in the industry, he eventually turned down the offer of internships from both companies. “I just felt it would take a lifetime to achieve my ambition of starting my own car business,” he recalls.

Instead, Naran ended up in the private jet business. He got his start through a combination of luck, charm and outrageous chutzpah. After a friend introduced him to Halcyon Jets, it offered him the rights to run its private jet operation in Africa, but refused to guarantee an exclusive arrangement; instead, armed with that contract, Naran talked his way into the office of Ricky Sitomer, chief executive of Blue Star Jets, who offered him the same deal, but this time with sole rights.

Despite his complete lack of experience, Naran made a huge success of the arrangement. “When Blue Star realised I was only 23, I think they decided they’d made a huge mistake, and they didn’t give me much support,” he explains. So Naran went looking for help elsewhere, contacting two industry veterans, Dennis Jans of CharterJet International and Joseph Amissah of Blue Cube Aviation, who agreed to mentor him. The business went from strength to strength and by 2010, Naran had added Asia to his Blue Star portfolio.

Eventually, however, Blue Star shut up shop, and Naran was free to launch his own venture. The result was Vimana, which Naran has built into one of the world’s most successful private jet brokerages with a high-end clientele. Celebrity endorsements -Naran points to the credit he secured on Keeping up with the Kardashians after helping the family with some particularly tricky travel arrangements – have helped drive sales growth of 250% a year.

All along the way, however, Naran always had his childhood dream at the back of his mind. “My whole career to date has been about getting into a position where I can get back into cars,” he says. “Now I’m finally at that point.”

The entrepreneur is undaunted by the prospect of launching a completely new brand into an industry famous for its emphasis on heritage and pedigree. “We’re an unknown company that no-one has ever heard of, but I’ve recruited an incredible team,” he says. “That not only guarantees a good product, but also gives us real credibility.”

That team includes Steve Pegg, a former Jaguar Land Rover engineer, as well as designer Jowyn Wong, known for his work on the Apollo IE and DeTomaso P72. Materials designer Kate Montgomery is also on board, charged with helping Naran’s customers choose bespoke interiors and finishes for their vehicles using materials that are hardly familiar to the auto industry. One customer is looking for seats finished with horse-hair to reflect his love of all things equestrian; another wants marble fascias – something Naran says can be achieved without adding undue weight.

The price tag on the vehicles is very much in the class of “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it”, and Naran is staying tight-lipped on what customers will pay – but certainly more than €1m. That hasn’t stopped the pre-orders coming in, however, with 13 sales already agreed. Only 108 vehicles will be manufactured in total – Naran chose the cap as a paean to his first racing number – including an initial run of 49 coupe versions of the car.

His ambition is to create a small community of drivers who will keep in touch, sharing their passion and building the brand. But Naran also realises the car has to perform on the road: he hopes to prove its credentials with a crack at the lap record for a 2x2 supercar at the world-famous Nürburgring race track – possibly early next year. The car will have a top speed of 230mph and reach 60mph in just over two seconds

In the meantime, Naran is hoping the Covid-19 pandemic won’t derail his plans to unveil the car publicly at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the autumn. His team is currently putting the finishing touches on a working prototype at its development facility in Northampton.

For Naran, driving the first vehicle off the production line will mean finally achieving a 30-year ambition – and he credits his parents, successful business owners back in Zimbabwe with the attributes necessary to stick with his dream. “They told me I could do whatever I wanted to do if I created my own opportunities,” he says.

That’s a message he wants to pass on to the next generation of entrepreneurs, believing his success makes him a useful role model for those with ambition and tenacity. First, however, there’s a new car to test-drive.