Deus means God in Latin and Portuguese. Some brands have already invoked divine forces to name their products – such as Citroën with its DS (Déesse, or goddess, in French) – but none had named itself as the Almighty until recently. The Austrian startup Deus will present its first vehicle at the New York Auto Show. Ironically, its name has nothing to do with deities.
The electric hypercar will be called Vayanne. According to the company, this is a reference to Vienna, the Austrian capital and “the heart of Europe.” Deus also states that it has an Austrian design language. However, it was created by Italdesign. That said, it would be more accurately described as an Italian design language for which Austrians paid for.
Deus also paid Williams Advanced Engineering to help it develop the Vayanne – or do it all by itself and deliver a car that Deus could build. For a company we had never heard about until very recently, that suggests that people with very deep pockets are behind the idea.
So far, all the company was willing to share is on Twitter. It states there that it is “part of a group of businesses with more than 30 years of success in industries ranging from publishing to packaging.” There's no mention to anything related to the automotive industry.
We know this vehicle will be electric because Deus said that its focus is “on 100-percent electric propulsion technology.” This powertrain “will power the ultra-limited, high-performance hypercars” it intends to produce with the help of its partners, which we have already named here. In other words, it would not be unlikely if the Deus Vayanne was made in the UK by Williams Advanced Engineering. Italdesign may also be in charge of that.
Finally, Deus stated that it chose this name because customers should expect nothing less than “divinity.” Part of that will be ensured by the minimal production numbers, part by the “stand-alone emotion that we create.” The fact that it will be presented in New York means it wants to convince American customers about these attributes. We wish Deus luck.
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