Jamal Hameedi, the legendary former Ford engineer who helped birth the Ford GT, the Ford Raptor, and the rugged Land Rover Defender 110 Octa, is stepping out from the corporate shadow. His new Italian-based venture, Hameedi Venturo, is set to launch what they claim is the world’s first off-road hypercar.
Hameedi isn’t riding solo on this dirt-sprayed adventure. He has assembled a “Justice League” of engineering talent, including Andreas Baenziger of Cosworth and Maximillian Szwaj, an alum of Lotus, Aston Martin, and Ferrari. Together, they are building a vehicle that promises to bridge the gap between a sleek hypercar silhouette and the raw capability of a Dakar racer.
What makes this project stand out, aside from the sheer audacity of it, is the “engineering first, styling later” approach. This isn’t just a supercar with a lift kit. It features a completely proprietary platform, a unique carbon chassis, and an independent suspension designed for high wheel travel and a low center of gravity.
Hameedi describes it as the spiritual successor to a modern-day Group B rally car, one that owners will actually want to drive in the snow rather than keeping it locked in a climate-controlled vault. It’s a hypercar designed for daily comfort and cargo space.
The timing of this reveal is deliciously suspicious. As Hameedi Venturo prepares for a full technical breakdown in January 2026, Ford is suspiciously quiet about its own off-road ambitions. CEO Jim Farley recently teased the idea of a Ford-branded off-road supercar, and rumors are swirling that a street-legal version of the Ford Raptor T1+ might be lurking in the shadows.
Whether this results in a legendary rivalry or a surprising partnership between the former engineer and the Blue Oval remains to be seen. Either way, the off-road segment is about to get a lot more expensive and a lot more exciting.
