In 2001 Roland Gumpert proposed a new generation sports car. One of the first concerns of this car was that it be a street-legal car, ready for the race track. Gumpert returned to Germany at the end of 2001, after more than three years in China. There he was the head of sales and marketing, responsible for the development of the dealer network of the Audi-VW joint enterprise. Just after he returned to Germany, Roland Meyer asked him if he would assist him in building a prototype sports car. Audi approved Gumpert's involvement in this project, on the condition that, if they did eventually develop a new sports car, it would not be a prototype, but a series product.
The two Gumpert Apollo Prototypes with an F-4 Phantom II.
The company was founded in 2004 under the name GMG Sportwagenmanufaktur Altenburg GmbH. The technical guidelines were defined and the first designs of the car were drawn by Marco Vanetta. Upon Vanetta's completion of this process, the first 1:4 scale model of Gumpert's car was produced in 2002.
Gumpert continued with the development of the Apollo, along with the Technical University of Munich and the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences. They have assisted with the construction work, computer simulations, and wind tunnel tests. This research and development helped forming the blueprint for the first 1:1 scale model. Finally two prototype apollos were constructed. The production of the apollo started in October 2005.
On July 27, 2008 an Apollo Sport was featured on the UK show Top Gear. Richard Hammond and The Stig drove the Apollo Sport. With a lap time of 1.17.1, the Apollo Sport became the new leader on the Power Lap Board, 0.2 seconds faster than the former lap leader, the Ascari A10. The Apollo was faster than Bugatti Veyron and Pagani Zonda around the Top Gear track . Ferrari FXX, later broke Apollo's record with a lap time of 1.10.1.
