There are production supercars, precision engineered with millions of Euros (sometimes Yen, sometimes Greenbacks) thrown into their development. However the wickedly-quick-bordering-on-insane products sometimes arrive via niche players and tuner specials. Forget a cohesive driving experience, these cars are all about…power. Lots of.
Meet the Hennessey Venom GT, a lightweight Lotus-lookalike mega-supercar that was brawn in the USA with its eyes fixed on the Bugatti Veyron. A 6.2-litre twin-turbo V8 produces a claimed 895kW and 1564Nm (!) to shift the carbonfibre-bodied Venom to 60mph in 2.5 seconds. The headline act, however, is 0-200mph in 16 seconds. Adaptive suspension and carbon-ceramic brakes help ensure the Venom doesn’t, err, bite like quick but ill-handling US muscle cars of old.
Of course, there are a couple of German class clowns that widen the grin on regular Mercedes and BMW products. The Brabus Rocket 800 (oh how we love that name) takes a regular CLS 63 5.5-litre V12 and strokes it to 6.2 litres. With a turbo feeding each bank of six cylinders, the four-door luxury-express produces 588kW and 1420Nm, for 0-100km/h in 3.7 seconds, 200km/h in 9.8 seconds, and 300km/h in 23.8 seconds. We reckon that this rear-driver might frighten a chauffeur or two.
Fans of performance sedans may be waiting for the imminent launch of the BMW M5, but tuner Alpina has taken the 550i sedan/650i Convertible and, well, well-tuned them up. Outputs move to an M5-rivalling 373kW and 700Nm.
Unfortunately, none of these rocketships are available in Australia, but with overseas stickers ranging from E$529,000 (Brabus) to US$950,000 (Venom GT), you’d need deep pockets (and an even deeper breath) before committing to these road-going monsters.
It’s hard to imagine that someone paid over $8 million – $8,700,000 to be precise – back in 1987 on the 1931 Bugatti Royale Kellner Coupe.
But just because that multimillion-dollar vehicle is off the market, it doesn’t mean there aren’t other lavish cars sporting a hefty price tag.
Here are the top ten most expensive production cars on the market today.
The best of the best are displayed at the Frankfurt Motor Show so it’s no surprise that the crème de la crème criterion extends to luxury vehicles for kids.
Apart from the grandeur of their supercars, prestige automakers also exhibited smaller versions of their cars for smaller people. Yes, toddlers. Porsche, BMW, Audi, and Hyundai have started targeting their brands to a younger generation and by the looks of these toddler vehicles, it will be hard for kids to resist.
We cant’s say the same for their parents, though.
From the $1.925 million Bugatti that Beyonce gave to Jay-Z, to the $481,000 Maybach that P Diddy handed over to his 16-year-old son, nothing says ‘I love you’ as sincerely as the keys to a flashy car.
Did you know the world’s biggest automotive company is worth as much as the next two combined?
Did you know that the 17 biggest automotive groups own 46 distinct vehicle brands between them?
Countdown the most valuable car companies based on market value according to Forbes.com.
Hundreds of cars passed through our hands last year, some indelibly etched their tyre tracks in our mind. Here’s 10 we remember with particular fondness.
Such is the state of ‘spy’ photography these days that car companies not only stage their own, they also embed information into the camouflage. By the time Benz rips the CLA’s covers off at the Detroit Auto Show next month, there will be very little left to tell of its sleek new sedan ‘caught’ undergoing high altitude testing.
We know the CLA four-door sedan shares its underbody structure with the A-class and B-class hatchbacks. Therefore, we know it’ll be powered by a vast range of four-cylinder turbocharged engines, 1.6 and 2.0-litre in petrol form, 1.5, 1.8 and 2.1-litre in diesel form. We’re also pretty sure there will be a non-turbocharged 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine. What we’re not sure about is which engines will be available when the CLA hits Australia in the second half of 2013.
We know most models will be front-drive, and the more powerful CLA250 2.0-litre turbo will get Benz’s 4motion all-wheel drive which brings the rear axle into play when the front wheels start to slip. The higher-performance CLA AMG 45 model, powered by a 260kW version of the same 2.0-litre four, will get a tweaked 4motion which favours the rear axle for a more sporty drive.
Having driven the A-class, we’re also pretty confident the CLA will run BMW’s 1-Series close in real-world driving dynamics, although we are interested to find out just how close this sleek front-drive comes to the benchmark BMW.
As for the car itself, it’s said to be indistiguishable from the real thing. It’s made of carbon fibre and composites, and is fitted with Pirelli F1 tyres and AP Racing or Brembo racing brakes. So, grab an engine, ditch the screens and we’ll see you on the grid in Monaco, yes?
Take a photographic tour of McLaren’s futuristic Woking production facility in England. It truly is a dream factory.
The most expensive cars ever sold
There haven’t been many new models in 50 years. But every one is slightly epic.
