Supercar

A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective cachet linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity.^[1] The term 'supercar' is frequently used for the extreme fringe of powerful, low-bodied mid-engine luxury sportscars. A low-profile car may have limited ground clearance, but a handling-favorable center of gravity and a smaller frontal area than a front engined car. These characteristics can reduce supercars' aerodynamic drag, enabling higher top speeds. Since the 2000s,^{[citation needed]} the term hypercar 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 from motorsports. Some examples include the Ferrari 458 Italia, Lamborghini Aventador, and McLaren 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 million euros, dollars, or pounds. Examples include the Porsche Carrera GT, Ford GT, and Ferrari F40/F50/Enzo lineage. Only a few car makers, like Bugatti and Koenigsegg, exclusively make hypercars.

The Lamborghini 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 for mid-engine two-seat cars with at least eight cylinders (but typically a V12 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 by Ferrari or Lamborghini – is also an essential characteristic for some using the term.^[5] Some European manufacturers, such as McLaren, Pagani, and Koenigsegg, specialize in only producing supercars.^{[9][10][11][12][13]}

Lamborghini Miura P400 S

Maserati MC20

During the 1960s, the highest-performance versions of American muscle 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 magazine Car Life included multiple references to supercars and "the supercar club",^[17] and a 1968 issue of Car & Driver magazine describes a "Supercar street racer gang" market segment.^[18] The "S/C" in the model name of the AMC 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 contemporary Chevrolet Corvettes,^[23][24] the Dodge Viper,^[25][26] and the Ford GT.^[27][28] Supercars made by smaller American manufacturers include the Saleen S7, SSC Ultimate Aero, SSC Tuatara, Hennessey Venom GT, and Hennessey Venom F5.^{[29][30][31][32][33]}

2018 Ford GT

Corvette C8

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, V6 Honda 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 the Lexus 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–present Nissan 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 a dual-clutch transmission.^{[45][46][47][48]}

The second 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]

In recent years, China has also seen the emergence of a number of domestically produced supercars, most of which are new hybrid or electric vehicles, represented by the NIO EP9, Hongqi S9, Yangwang U9, Hyptec SSR, and Neta GT.^[52]

1997 Honda NSX

2024 Nio EP9

Another term for high-performance sportscars is "hypercar", which is sometimes used to describe the highest-performing supercars.^[53] 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";^[54] prices can reach or exceed US$1 million, and already had by 2017.^[54]

Some observers consider the tubular framed, first-ever production fuel-injection, world's fastest street-legal, 260 km/h (160 mph) 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL "Gullwing" as the first hypercar; others the revolutionary, mid-engined 1967 Lamborghini Miura;{{Citation needed|date=August 2025} ^[55] or 2005 Bugatti Veyron.^[56]

With a shift towards electrification, many new hypercars use a hybrid drivetrain, a trend started in 2013 with the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, and LaFerrari, then continued in 2016 with the Koenigsegg Regera, in 2017 with the Mercedes-AMG One, the McLaren Speedtail, and in 2025 the Corvette ZR1X.^{[57][58][59][60]}

Some modern hypercars, such as the Pininfarina Battista, NIO EP9, Rimac Nevera, and Lotus Evija, have also gone full-electric.

Hypercars have also been used as a base for the Le Mans Hypercar class after rule changes came into effect from 2021.^[61]

• List of sports car manufacturers
• List of fastest production cars
• Supercar Season

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