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A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a type of automobile generally described at its most basic as a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective cachet linked to pedigree, exclusivity, or both. The term 'supercar' is frequently used for the extreme fringe of powerful, low-bodied mid-engine luxury sportscars. A low car has both a low, handling-favorable center of gravity, and less frontal area than a front engined car, reducing its aerodynamic drag and enabling a higher top speed. Since the 2000s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performance supercars.

Supercars commonly 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. By contrast, automotive journalism typically reserves the predicate 'hypercar' for (very) limited, (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 would include the 1270 unit Porsche's Carrera GT, Ford GTs, and the Ferrari F40/F50/Enzo lineage. Very few car makers, like Bugatti and Koenigsegg, only make hypercars.

In the United States, the term "supercars" was used already during the 1960s for the highest performance muscle cars. As of 2024, "supercars" is still used in Australia to refer to Australian muscle cars.

History

Europe

The Lamborghini Miura, introduced in 1966 by the Italian manufacturer, is often said to be the first supercar. By the 1970s and 1980s the term was in regular use for such a car, if not precisely defined. 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). 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"; exclusivity – in terms of limited production volumes, such as those of the most elite models made by Ferrari or Lamborghini – is also an important characteristic for some using the term. Some European manufacturers, such as McLaren, Pagani, and Koenigsegg, specialize in only producing supercars.

United States

During the 1960s the highest performance American muscle cars were referred to by some as supercars, sometimes spelled with a capital S. Its use reflected the intense competition for primacy in that market segment between U.S. manufacturers, retroactively characterized as the "horsepower wars". Already by 1965 the May issue of the American magazine Car Life included multiple references to supercars and "the supercar club", and a 1968 issue of Car & Driver magazine describes a "Supercar street racer gang" market segment. 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".

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; interpretations of the term are span from limited-production models produced by small manufacturers for performance enthusiasts to (less frequently) standard production cars modified for exceptional performance.

The 1990s and 2000s saw a rise in American supercars with similar characteristics to their European counterparts. Some American "Big Three" (i.e. General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford, the historic giants of America's Detroit-based auto-industry) sports cars which have been referred to as supercars include contemporary Chevrolet Corvettes, the Dodge Viper, and the Ford GT. Supercars made by smaller American manufacturers include the Saleen S7, SSC Ultimate Aero, SSC Tuatara, Hennessey Venom GT, and Hennessey Venom F5.

Japan

During the early 1990s, Japan began to gain global recognition for making high-performance sports cars; the automotive media seized on the lightweight, mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive, V6 Honda NSX produced from 1990 to 2005 as Japan's "first". While matching contemporary European supercars in performance and features, the NSX was praised for being more reliable and user-friendly.

In the 21st century, other Japanese makers produced their own supercars. From 2010 to 2012, Lexus offered 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). The 2009–present Nissan GT-R has also been praised as a modern supercar that also delivers every day practicality. It features a twin-turbo V6 producing between 473–710 hp (353–529 kW; 480–720 PS), and has been lauded for its acceleration and handling through its all-wheel-drive drivetrain and dual-clutch transmission.

The second generation Honda NSX supercar made from 2016 to 2022 upped the ante for Honda by using all-wheel drive, a hybrid powertrain (producing up to 602 hp (449 kW; 610 PS)), turbocharging, and a dual-clutch transmission.

Hypercar

A more recent term for high-performance sportscars is "hypercar", which is sometimes used to describe the highest performing supercars. An extension of "supercar", it too lacks a set definition. One offered by automotive magazine The Drive is "a limited-production, top-of-the-line supercar"; prices can reach or exceed US$1 million, and already had by 2017.

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, first-ever mid-engined 1967 Lamborghini Miura; others yet the 1993 McLaren F1 or 2005 Bugatti Veyron.

With a recent shift towards electrification, many recent hypercars use a hybrid drivetrain, a trend started in 2013 by the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, and LaFerrari, then continued in 2016 with the Koenigsegg Regera, in 2017 with the Mercedes-AMG One, and the McLaren Speedtail.

Modern hypercars such as 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 come into effect from 2021.

See also

• List of sports car manufacturers
• List of fastest production cars
• Supercar Season
• Supertruck
• Super SUV

References

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External links

• Media related to Supercars at Wikimedia Commons

• Car classifications
• Sports cars