When Silence Is Not Glorious

With electric vehicles toning down decibels, supercars are wading into unfamiliar territory.

- Ian De Cotta

The guttural growl and muscular engine blast of sports and supercars are distinct. Petrolheads can even tell from a distance whether it is a Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Porsche or Aston Martin that is heading their way. For drivers, this sound is what makes owning a supercar special. It turns heads, announces their arrival and, more importantly, cautions other road users that a powerful machine is in their midst.

The metallic roar comes from the internal combustion engine (ICE) discharging excess energy. Makers of the top marques pay extraordinary attention to each of their high performance cars’ unique sounds, but this is becoming a conundrum in the era of electric vehicles (EV).

In the last 10 months, many of the big names in the top end of the auto industry, save for Ferrari, have revealed concrete plans to produce EVs, as their turf faces assault from the likes of the Tesla Roadster. New players such as the Singaporeconceived and designed Dendrobium, now being built in the United Kingdom under a joint venture, are also in the mix. Others are Croatia’s Rimac Automobili, Japan’s Aspark Owl and China’s Nio EP9. They promise to deliver high-end performance that has always been the preserve of their ICE-driven counterparts.