New carmaker Eterniti to debut its first car at Frankfurt auto show

It's not every day that a new car company jumps into the fray, and it's even rarer that the first model it builds is a super SUV.

Enter Eterniti Motors, a startup luxury brand based in London. The company says it satisfies a demand for personalized luxury from wealthy car buyers, “particularly in major cities and global wealth centers.”

Apparently Rolls-Royce, Bugatti, Bentley and Spyker just aren't filling that void.

The company's first vehicle, the Eterniti Hemera SUV, will be introduced at the Frankfurt motor show on Sept. 13. The Hemera provides luxury and performance, Eterniti says. The company says it will use a large-SUV platform from an outside source and give it a chassis-up rebuild that includes a new interior and carbon-composite body panels. The price will be more than $160,000, Eterniti says. Deliveries are scheduled to start in 2012.

Inside is a limousinelike cabin with twin reclining rear seats, iPads and a drink chiller. Eterniti says the all-wheel-drive SUV can be driven by a chauffeur but will also offer driving excitement.

Eterniti's engineering squad is led by Alastair Macqueen, whose r

By Jake Lingeman