BEIRUT: The Beirut-based car company W Motors has completed the first prototype of its $3.4 million “ultra-luxury hypercar” and is gearing up to officially launch sales at the Qatar Auto show on Jan. 29. The “LykanHypersport 2013” is the brainchild of Beirut-born car designer Ralph Debbas, who is the lead investor, chairman and chief operating officer of W Motors.

Debbas cut his teeth designing “several concepts” for such luxury car brands as Land Rover and Aston Martin before starting W Motors in 2006. The launch of what Debbas has dubbed “the first Arabian supercar” is an ambition he has nurtured since college: “It started as a dream and I kept following the dream ... I saw there was a gap in the Middle East because people love fast and expensive cars, but they never produce them there.” [Link]