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Asupercar, also known as anexotic car, is a street-legalsports car with race track-like power, speed, andhandling, plus a certain subjectivecachet linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity.[1] The term 'supercar' is frequently used for the extreme fringe of powerful, low-bodiedmid-engineluxury sportscars. A low-profile car may have limited ground clearance, but a handling-favorablecenter of gravity and a smaller frontal area than afront engined car. These characteristics can reduce supercars'aerodynamic drag, enabling higher top speeds. Since the 2000s,[citation needed] the termhypercar has come into use for the highest-performance supercars.[citation needed]
Supercars often serve as the flagship model within a vehicle manufacturer's sports car range and typically feature various performance-related technology derived frommotorsports. Some examples include theFerrari 458 Italia,Lamborghini Aventador, andMcLaren 720S.
Automotive journalism typically reserves the predicate 'hypercar' for low (two- to low 4-figure) production-number cars, built over and above the marque's typical product line-up and carrying 21st century sales prices often exceeding a millioneuros,dollars, orpounds. Examples include thePorsche's Carrera GT,Ford GTs, and the FerrariF40/F50/Enzo lineage. Only a few car makers, likeBugatti andKoenigsegg, only make hypercars.
In the United States, the term "supercars" was used already during the 1960s for the highest-performancemuscle cars. As of 2024, "supercars" is still used in Australia to refer toAustralian muscle cars.[citation needed]
TheLamborghini Miura, introduced in 1966 by the Italian manufacturer, is often said to be the first supercar.[2][3][4][5] By the 1970s and 1980s, the term was in regular use for such a car, if not precisely defined.[6][7] One interpretation up until the 1990s was to use it formid-engine two-seat cars with at least eight cylinders (but typically aV12 engine), a power output of at least 400 bhp (298 kW) and a top speed of at least 180 mph (290 km/h).[1] Other interpretations state that "it must be very fast, with sporting handling to match", "it should be sleek and eye-catching" and its price should be "one in a rarefied atmosphere of its own";[8] exclusivity – in terms of limited production volumes, such as those of the most elite models made byFerrari orLamborghini – is also an essential characteristic for some using the term.[5] Some European manufacturers, such asMcLaren,Pagani, andKoenigsegg, specialize in only producing supercars.[9][10][11][12][13]
During the 1960s, the highest-performance versions of Americanmuscle cars were referred to as supercars.[14][15]: 8 The description was sometimes spelled with a capital S.[16] Its use reflected the intense competition for primacy in that market segment between U.S. manufacturers, retroactively characterized as the "horsepower wars".[14]: 8 Already by 1965 the May issue of the American magazineCar Life included multiple references to supercars and "the supercar club",[17] and a 1968 issue ofCar & Driver magazine describes a "Supercar street racer gang" market segment.[18] The "S/C" in the model name of theAMC S/C Rambler produced in 1969 as a street-legal racer is an abbreviation for "SuperCar".[19]
Since the decline of the muscle car in the 1970s, the word supercar has been more broadly internationalized, coming to mean an "exotic" car that has high performance;[14]: 5 interpretations of the term span from limited-production models produced by small manufacturers for performance enthusiasts to (less frequently) standard production cars modified for exceptional performance.[20]
The 1990s and 2000s saw a rise in American supercars with similar characteristics to their European counterparts.[21][22] Some American "Big Three" (i.e. General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford, the historic leaders of America's Detroit-based auto-industry) sports cars which have been referred to as supercars include contemporaryChevrolet Corvettes,[23][24] theDodge Viper,[25][26] and theFord GT.[27][28] Supercars made by smaller American manufacturers include theSaleen S7,SSC Ultimate Aero,SSC Tuatara,Hennessey Venom GT, andHennessey Venom F5.[29][30][31][32][33]
During the early 1990s, Japan began to gain global recognition for making high-performance sports cars; the automotive media described the lightweight, mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive, V6Honda NSX produced from 1990 through 2005 as Japan's "first".[34][35][36] Matching contemporary European supercars in performance and features, the NSX was more reliable and user-friendly.[37][38]
In the 21st century, other Japanese makers produced supercars. From 2010 until 2012, Lexus marketed theLexus LFA, a two-seat front-engine coupe powered by a 4.8 L (293 cu in) V10 engine producing 553 hp (412 kW; 561 PS).[39][40][41] The 2009–presentNissan GT-R has been described as a modern supercar that delivers everyday practicality.[42][43][44] It features a twin-turbo V6 producing between 473–710 hp (353–529 kW; 480–720 PS), with all-wheel-drive and dual-clutch transmission.[45][46][47][48]
Thesecond generation Honda NSX made from 2016 until 2022 used all-wheel drive, a hybrid powertrain (producing up to 602 hp (449 kW; 610 PS)), turbocharging, and a dual-clutch transmission.[49][50][51]
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Another term for high-performance sportscars is "hypercar", which is sometimes used to describe the highest-performing supercars.[52] An extension of "supercar", it too lacks a set definition. One offered by the automotive magazine,The Drive, is "a limited-production, top-of-the-line supercar";[53] prices can reach or exceed US$1 million, and already had by 2017.[53]
Some observers consider the tubular framed, first-ever production fuel-injection, world's fastest street-legal, 260 km/h (160 mph) 1954Mercedes-Benz 300 SL "Gullwing" as the first hypercar; others the revolutionary, first-evermid-engined 1967Lamborghini Miura; others yet the 1993McLaren F1[54] or 2005Bugatti Veyron.[55]
With a shift towardselectrification, many new hypercars use ahybrid drivetrain, a trend started in 2013 with theMcLaren P1,Porsche 918 Spyder, andLaFerrari, then continued in 2016 with theKoenigsegg Regera, in 2017 with theMercedes-AMG One, and theMcLaren Speedtail.[56][57][58]
Modern hypercars such asPininfarina Battista,NIO EP9,Rimac Nevera, andLotus Evija have also gonefull-electric.
Hypercars have also been used as a base for theLe Mans Hypercar class after rule changes came into effect from 2021.[59]
"the outlandish Lamborghini Miura, which is widely considered to be the first car to legitimately deserve the title
The term muscle car wasn't heard much hack when these vehicles were first hitting the market. In those days, the enthusiast magazines favored the term supercar.
what we now think of as muscle cars were more commonly called "Supercars," often (though not always) spelled with a capital S.
Media related toSupercars at Wikimedia Commons