A Dutch Startup Wants to Build a Supercar You Straddle Like a Motorcycle

A Dutch startup called Sanrivatti just announced it’s building a supercar where you don‘t sit—you straddle it like a motorcycle. Not as a gimmick. As the entire philosophy.

In an industry drowning in carbon fiber, hypercar sequels, and incremental power bumps, Sanrivatti is swinging for something genuinely different. The company’s working on what it calls the “Apex Position”—a motorcycle-style seating arrangement that founder Santiago Sánchez Rivero claims will fuse driver and machine into something closer to how a sportbike actually feels. No layers of architecture. No isolation. Just you, the road, and a four-wheeled machine that moves like your body wants it to.

“On a high-performance motorcycle, rider and machine move as one,” Rivero told Top Gear. “By contrast, even the world’s most capable performance cars frequently separate driver and machine through layers of architecture, packaging, systems technologies, and convention.” It’s a fair diagnosis of modern supercar design, even if the cure sounds absolutely bonkers on paper.

The Pitch: Feel Everything

What Sanrivatti is actually selling is heightened driver connection. The company claims the Apex Position will deliver a “heightened sense of awareness, superior balance, and enhanced connection during acceleration, braking, and cornering.” It’s the inverse of what most supercar makers chase—they’re trying to isolate you in a cocoon of technology. Sanrivatti wants to expose you to everything.

The technical details are sparse right now, which is either confidence or vaporware. The company talks about “immersive ergonomics” and “controls designed around natural human movement,” but specifics on construction, powertrain, or even a firm reveal date haven’t materialized yet. What we do know: Sanrivatti’s roster includes veterans from McLaren, Lotus, Bentley, and Singer—people who understand how to make cars that actually perform. That’s not nothing.

The straddling position itself is the wild card. If done wrong, you’re looking at a glorified three-wheeler with a novelty gimmick. If done right, it could fundamentally change how you experience lateral acceleration, braking, and weight transfer. Your body would feel the chassis load up in real time rather than absorbing it through a padded seat and suspension compliance. That’s either the future or a recipe for extreme physical discomfort. Possibly both.

They’re Not the First—But They’re the Only Ones Left

Alternative seating and leaning mechanics aren’t new. The Netherlands has history here: Carver, also Dutch, built a three-wheeler starting in 1994 that could actually lean into corners using proprietary tilt technology. It was clever engineering, and it went bankrupt in 2024 anyway—proof that unconventional seating doesn’t automatically translate to market viability.

Mercedes-Benz tried a four-wheeled approach with the F400 Carving concept back in 2001, adjusting wheel camber to replicate motorcycle dynamics. It never made production. Then there’s the Ariel Atom and BAC Mono—both minimal, open-cockpit roadsters that deliver raw feedback without asking you to straddle anything. They’ve proven that drivers hungry for connection will buy cars that feel unfiltered, even if they’re uncomfortable.

So why hasn’t anyone just gone full motorcycle seating? Probably because it opens legal, safety, and manufacturing problems that don’t exist with conventional cars. Crash testing becomes a nightmare. Ergonomics for different body types is a minefield. And the liability insurance alone might bankrupt you before you build the first prototype.

The Real Question: Why Would You Buy This?

Here’s where Sanrivatti’s bet gets interesting. Supercar buyers in 2024 don’t need another 1,500-horsepower hypercar with a $2 million price tag. They need something to talk about at the yacht club. A center-mounted McLaren F1 driver’s seat or a Czinger 21C‘s narrow cockpit already pushes normality. A motorcycle-style straddle position takes it to a place nobody else has even attempted.

Whether the engineering actually delivers on Rivero’s claims about driver connection is secondary to the fact that owning one would be instantly verifiable proof that you’re willing to commit to something genuinely different. In a market where differentiation is measured in paint color and wheel choice, that’s genuinely valuable.

That said, the company’s silence on actual specs, power, performance targets, and a timeline is loud. We don’t know if this thing will be electric, gas, or hybrid. We don’t know if it’ll accelerate like a hypercar or just feel like one because your body’s hyperaware of every input. We don’t know when it’s coming or what it’ll cost. All we have is a wild idea and a pedigree.

The Verdict: Admirable Bet, Unknown Payoff

Sanrivatti’s approach is refreshing in an industry that desperately needs disruption—even if that disruption amounts to “what if we took motorcycle seating seriously?” The company’s tapping into something real: driver fatigue with insulated, filtered, mediated performance experiences. But straddling a supercar isn’t inherently better than sitting in one. It’s just different, and different alone doesn’t guarantee success.

What it does guarantee is that when Sanrivatti finally reveals this thing in motion, people will notice. In a sea of £2 million supercars that look vaguely similar, sometimes weird is the only advantage that matters.

Sources: The Drive