Czinger Vehicles’ 21C is a very expensive way to make a point about manufacturing. The Los Angeles-area company’s $2.35 million hybrid hypercar delivers the expected absurd numbers, but its more consequential claim is that Divergent Technologies’ software-led, metal-printing production system can replace much of the tooling-heavy process used to build cars.
The 21C uses a carbon-fiber body and a bespoke 2.88-liter twin-turbo flat-plane V8 that revs to 11,000 rpm, paired with three electric motors. One motor powers each front wheel, while a third works as a crank-driven starter-generator. Czinger rates the combined system at 1,250 hp and 691 lb-ft of torque.
A seven-speed automated manual transaxle handles shifting. Czinger chose that layout partly because it is lighter and can manage high torque without the packaging burden of a dual-clutch gearbox, according to Ars Technica’s drive report. In Vmax form, the car weighs less than 3,700 pounds with fluids, reaches 60 mph in a claimed 1.92 seconds, runs the quarter mile in 8.6 seconds, and tops out at 253 mph. The company’s more track-focused 21C High Downforce version recently set lap records at five California circuits during a 1,000-mile road trip, according to the report.
A hypercar built as a manufacturing demo
Kevin Czinger and Lukas Czinger founded Czinger Vehicles in 2019 as an offshoot of Divergent Technologies. Divergent’s work centers on generative design software, large metal additive manufacturing, and automated assembly systems that can be reconfigured rather than rebuilt around dedicated tooling. The company’s technology has been used by Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, the U.S. Department of Defense, Bugatti, and McLaren, according to Ars Technica.
The production method matters because it changes where design constraints enter the process. Conventional car parts are shaped around casting, stamping, forging, and machining limits. Divergent starts with software that tests possible geometries against load, stiffness, crash, and packaging targets, then removes material where the structure does not need it. The resulting parts often look more like bone or branching roots than ordinary machined components.
Once the design is set, large printers make the pieces from powdered metals. Czinger uses the process for parts including suspension components and the gearbox case, and bonds some assemblies with proprietary adhesives. The current printers can produce about one kilogram of metal parts per hour, according to the company, which means a complex rear subframe takes roughly two days.
Czinger plans to build only 80 examples of the 21C, with final assembly done largely by hand at the Area 21 facility in Torrance, California. Max Morice, Czinger Vehicles’ head of brand communications, told Ars Technica the company wants to apply the same process to higher-volume vehicles later. He said the manufacturing system is vehicle-agnostic and can make parts for multiple brands in the same space with no turnover time.
Race-car layout, road-car plates
The 21C’s structure uses an in-house carbon-fiber safety cell, with the driver seated in the center and the passenger directly behind in a tandem layout. The suspension uses pushrod-actuated double wishbones, inboard springs, and electronically adjustable dampers.
Braking hardware includes six-piston front calipers with 16.1-inch carbon-ceramic discs and four-piston rear calipers with 15.4-inch carbon rotors. Czinger expects to add its BrakeNode design later this year. That printed component combines the brake caliper mount, suspension connection, and brake-fluid conduit into one piece, which the company says is lighter, stiffer, and better at shedding heat than a typical assembly.
On public roads, the 21C’s four drive modes change the car’s behavior sharply. Street mode favors electric propulsion at low speeds, with the V8 acting mainly as a generator. Sport mode brings the engine and electric system together for full output. Track mode adds heavier steering, sharper throttle mapping, and stronger energy recovery. Track+ lowers the car by 25 mm and stiffens the suspension to levels Czinger compares with GT3 race cars, so the drive report says it was treated as a closed-course setting.
Ars Technica’s road test described the 21C Vmax as easier to acclimate to than its layout suggests, despite poor rear visibility and the oddity of sitting on the centerline. The single-clutch gearbox still hits hard on full-throttle upshifts, and the 11,000 rpm V8 dominates the experience. That is the hypercar part. The factory pitch is harder to hear over the noise, but it is the part Czinger is trying hardest to sell.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.
