Across decades of automotive history, marketing departments have unrelentingly drawn on martial imagery to elevate everyday vehicles into objects of perceived invincibility. Countless cars have been advertised as if they arose from the same laboratories that give birth to military ordnance, their engines and aerodynamics spoken of in the same breath as missiles, tanks, and fighter jets. Saab, for instance, became emblematic of this tendency—its branding perpetually tethered to its aeronautical ancestry, reminding buyers that its DNA once belonged to aircraft. Jeep, too, has never shied away from brandishing its olive-drab past, parading its World War II heritage as both badge of honor and enduring proof of rugged authenticity. Yet, despite this long tradition of symbolic militarization, not since the wartime commandeering of automobile factories in the 1940s has there been such a tangible, literal confluence between civilian transportation and defense technology as that represented by the astonishing Czinger 21C. This $2.35-million, 1,250-horsepower hypercar is not merely inspired by military precision—it is, in a very material sense, born of it. Each of its intricately fashioned components is produced through the same highly sophisticated machines that create precision-guided munitions and autonomous aerial systems for the defense sector, all managed under the auspices of Divergent 3D, the Czinger brand’s parent company.
This intimate exchange between defense innovation and consumer performance elevates the 21C to the rarefied status of a modern ‘halo car’—a creation so extraordinary that it radiates technological credibility across its entire brand. Whereas traditional halo cars, such as Cadillac’s opulent Celestiq or the now-legendary Dodge Viper, have historically served as expressions of a brand’s personality and aspirational vision, the Czinger 21C operates on an entirely different conceptual plane. It is not just a performance statement but a philosophical one: a manifestation of a future in which manufacturing itself is offered as a refined, data-driven service. During a visit to Divergent 3D and Czinger’s shared facility, one gains the sense that this philosophy does not simply aim to perfect machinery—it seeks to redefine what industrial creation can be in the age of artificial intelligence and additive production.
Walking through Divergent 3D’s headquarters in Torrance, California, the scene unfolds like an exquisite fusion of art studio and weapons lab. On one side of the immense facility rests an elegantly sculpted suspension arm, destined for a top-secret hypercar yet to be unveiled. Nearby, a sleek, angular fuselage for a next-generation cruise missile lies in assembly—a juxtaposition that blurs the boundaries between automotive sensuality and aerospace lethality. Both objects share a distinctly silken, metallic finish, the trademark surface of laser-sintered alloy—an emblem of the additive manufacturing process that stands at the heart of Divergent 3D’s operations. Here, powerful lasers fuse layer upon layer of fine metal powder to create impossibly complex geometries that traditional methods could never replicate.
Lukas Czinger, the company’s CEO, provides a guided tour of this hybrid automotive-defense ecosystem. Within these walls, Divergent 3D not only prints but perfects: there are laboratories dedicated to the formulation of adhesives and polymers, precision milling stations for post-processing, and an arc of robotic arms that assemble components with unerring grace. At one station, Lukas indicates the tapering shell of a Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile (RAACM)—a defense project emblematic of Divergent’s speed and efficiency. He explains that conventional aerospace production would require years to evolve a new platform from its earliest concept to a flight-worthy airframe. In contrast, their technology compresses that timeline into months, while reducing the number of structural parts from approximately two hundred to as few as ten. The mass, too, is significantly trimmed—up to forty percent lighter—yielding an object that embodies both resilience and elegance.
The conceptual foundation of this system traces back to Kevin Czinger, the visionary founder of Divergent 3D, whose aspiration was to rethink manufacturing itself. Born in 2014, the company was built on the premise that computer-guided design, additive engineering, and propulsion of data could transform how objects—especially vehicles—are conceived. Kevin’s son, Lukas, left a promising career in finance to expand the family legacy, creating Czinger Vehicles in 2019 as the public showcase for this industrial revolution. Today, as CEO of Divergent 3D, Lukas continues to advance the method his father pioneered, while Kevin remains deeply involved as inventor and chairman.
Additive manufacturing, and more specifically laser sintering, is by no means novel in 2025. Yet Divergent 3D distinguishes itself by integrating every phase of production—design optimization, simulation, prototyping, and even structural testing—within a single ecosystem. This unity facilitates unprecedented development velocity. Currently, the majority of its fabrication relies on industrial-grade SLM printers from Germany, each customized internally to enhance throughput and precision. However, ever mindful of performance demands and the geopolitical complexities of equipment sourcing, Divergent has begun constructing its own proprietary machines. The ‘Divergent Evolutionary Printer’ stands as the firm’s colossal, self-engineered leap forward: a monumental apparatus capable of producing parts faster, on a larger scale, and with greater multifaceted detail. It introduces multi-material printing capabilities, combining aluminum—the standard for lightness—with high-strength nickel alloys suited to the most extreme aerospace environments.
Complementing this printing revolution is the company’s deployment of generative design software, which algorithmically sculpts parts optimized for both function and minimal weight. Taken together, these tools forge a holistic manufacturing ecosystem—one that can cater to automotive, defense, and aerospace clients alike. To demonstrate the potency of this ecosystem, Czinger created not merely a prototype but a masterpiece: the 21C, a stunningly sculpted hypercar that exists simultaneously as performance machine and rolling proof-of-concept.
Stepping into the Czinger 21C, one quickly realizes there is nothing ordinary about the experience. Entry requires a careful dance of contortion—an inelegant shuffle more akin to slipping into a fighter jet’s cockpit than entering a luxury coupe. Once seated, however, the driver assumes a central position flanked symmetrically between the front wheels—an homage to the legendary McLaren F1’s purist configuration from the 1990s. The lineage is not symbolic: like its spiritual predecessor, the 21C exists on the very edge of engineering possibility. Recently, it undertook a thousand-mile journey across California, visiting five racetracks in five days and leaving behind a trail of broken lap records.
From the driver’s throne—an aqua-blue sculpted seat that envelops its occupant—the view forward reveals broad fenders rising over immense carbon-ceramic brakes, each detail whispering of the car’s kinetic potential. In its electric-only mode, powered by three motors delivering roughly five hundred horsepower, the 21C glides through urban streets in near silence, a predatory calm before ignition. Engage the ‘Mode’ function, however, and the dormant twin-turbocharged V8 roars awake behind the cabin. Instantly, total output surges to a staggering 1,250 horsepower, distributing thrust across all four wheels. Acceleration becomes a temporal illusion: the car rockets from rest to sixty miles per hour in under two seconds—an experience so extreme that common courtesy, not capability, dictates restraint on public roads.
The variant tested, labeled ‘V Max,’ is designed for pure velocity, its aerodynamic silhouette honed for a theoretical top speed of 253 mph. Maneuvering through civilian traffic in such a machine evokes an image of a caged thoroughbred surrounded by ponies—barely containable, yet obedient. Once liberated onto open highways, the 21C reveals its deeper nature: a choreography of unrelenting force and surgical precision that borders on transformative sensory overload. The car’s driving experience is as visceral as it is cerebral—raw, unfiltered, weapon-like in its intensity.
Despite the small production run—ten units delivered to date, each commanding a seven-figure price—Czinger’s broader ambitions extend far beyond the garage. The parent company, Divergent 3D, derives the majority of its revenue from aerospace and defense collaborations, an endeavor profitable enough to achieve a valuation exceeding $2.3 billion following a substantial $290 million funding round. While partnerships within the automotive sector remain a smaller portion of operations, they include some of the most illustrious marques in existence: Aston Martin, Bugatti, and McLaren already integrate Divergent’s distinctive components into their designs. Though the 21C currently functions as Czinger’s most visible ambassador, that status may evolve as upcoming printers elevate output and efficiency. Lukas Czinger predicts that within a decade, Divergent’s technology will infiltrate large-scale manufacturing, producing millions of parts for mainstream manufacturers such as Ford and Volkswagen. Yet even as the company eyes mass production, it does not intend to abandon its experimental heart. Plans are already underway for the next evolution in Czinger’s hypercar lineage—a machine that will push additive manufacturing not simply as a tool, but as the very soul of performance craftsmanship.
Sourse: https://www.theverge.com/transportation/813227/czinger-21c-hypercar-divergent-3d-manufacturing
