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Ahh, supercars? What could honestly be more entertaining and cooler in the world of the automobile? Nothing I would imagine – that’s why a supercar is called a “supercar”
What is a supercar? Well I suppose it is a vehicle which is expensive, powerful, fast and exclusive. That last part, “exclusive”, is that true? Well perhaps that’s not to so anymore, because these “exclusive” supercars are becoming less and less exclusive as more manufacturers appear each year. Not to mention, the actual production figures set for these new generation of supercars is downright absurd.
I suppose you could say the birth of the supercar was with the Lamborghini Miura in the early 70’s, however that was at a time when the supercar market was small. In fact, it belonged to two companies, Porsche & Ferrari. Lamborghini was just a follower at the time but still, that left only three supercar manufacturers to purchase from. Also worth mentioning, none of these brands sold exceptionally well, with the exception of Porsche. Even then, over those 40+ years of 911 production, the Cayenne SUV outsold every single 911 made in those four decades.
The real market of the supercar started in the 1990’s when a hoard of new manufacturers appeared as well as a new generation of hypercars from the legendary Porsche, Ferrari and now Lamborghini. Porsche’s offering was a homologation special called the 959, powered by a 2.8 litre Boxer 6 cylinder developing around 450bhp.
The 959 truly marked a new era for supercars, not only in terms of speed, but technology. In fact, no car at the same time had anywhere the same level of technology, and even by today’s standards, it’s one of the most complicated vehicles ever built. The 959 featured computer controlled AWD (new to Porsche at the time – purposely made for a 959 made to compete in the rally world), a self leveling suspension with an adjustable ride height, sequential turbochargers, and an advanced body design with a 0.31 CD. By the time the 959 went out of production (in 1991 – I think...) Porsche had made a little under 300 examples. The biggest problem with the 959 project was that because the 959 was so expensive to make, Porsche lost a ton of money on each and every 959 sold. So then it goes without saying – the 959 project was a failure, in terms of gathering money anyways.
At the same time, Ferrari had developed a supercar commemorating their 40th anniversary, the F40. This 478bhp supercar didn’t have anywhere the technology of the German wonder, but it was a far greater success for the supercar world and Ferrari. Originally, Ferrari had planned to make just 300 vehicles, but the orders kept pouring in and as a result, a total of 1,315 vehicles had been built by the time its production stopped in 1992.
The F40’s success had sprouted a new root among the supercar world – not only was it a great success, but it was the first time an exclusive supercar had been made mass produced. Adding to the F40’s glory was the fact that it was the first production car to hit 200mph, and in 1988, the F40 could sprint to 100mph in under 8.0 seconds.
Once into the early 90’s, Lamborghini revealed a successor to the Countach, called the Diablo. Even British manufacturer, Jaguar, wanted a piece of the action and revealed the XJ220. Originally a concept car, to be powered with a V12 hauling an AWD system, set for a new goal – 220mph. By the time the XJ220 had been officially made available to the public, it featured neither a 12 cylinder nor an AWD drivetrain. However, it did feature a 3.5 litre V6 derived from Jaguar’s racing program and to squeeze some extra power, Jaguar installed two turbochargers. The end result was an astonishing 542bhp! (far more than the 959 and the F40) While it never reached its 220mph goal, it did reach a recorded 213mph (making it the fastest car in the world until the McLaren F1 arrived)
As for production – Jaguar had not planned for the XJ220 to be F40 popular, and like the 959, a mere 300 were produced.
By the time the mid 90’s arrived supercars were arriving at a new peak. In this year, Porsche released yet another homologation special, the 993 GT1. However, this time Porsche was much more careful and stuck to 25 vehicles (the required limit by the racing association)
1995 was also the year when Ferrari released their 50th anniversary car, the F50. This time, Ferrari had a very much different approach. Rather than modifying an older 8 cylinder, it was deemed proper to install a modified F1 12 cylinder into the F50. 4.7 litres, 520bhp – 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds. While the transformation from a forced induction V8 to a naturally aspirated V12 had its consequences (drop in torque for the F50, just 347lb-ft compared to 425lb-ft of the F40) the F50 was the first Ferrari road car to seriously focus on F1 technology for the road. While often criticized for being a step behind the F40, in terms of handling and power delivery, it was miles ahead. A total of 350 F50’s were built, making it a far less profitable vehicle than the F40.
Of course – the McLaren F1 should be mentioned. Thrown onto the market in 1994 with a price of a one million Euros, McLaren sold just 64 vehicles. The F1’s party piece was a 6.1 litre BMW 12 cylinder (with 627bhp) and with its lightweight construction it could propel it’s self to 100mph in 6.3 seconds. The F1 was also capable of 240.1 mph, smashing the previous record held by the XJ220.
The 2000’s marked yet another new generation of supercars with higher profitability and sales figures. In 1999, small Italian manufacturer Pagani joined us and in 2000, both Spyker (Dutch) and Engineering B (Italian) joined the fray. In 2001, a manufacturer called Koenigsegg arrived, Lamborghini released a new supercar, the Murcielago and in 2002 Ferrari also released a new supercar, called the Enzo.
Since 2000, the supercar world has been joined by a fleet of newcomers. By the time Ferrari’s production of the 360 Modena had ceased in 2004, they had sold over 8,000 units. In 2004 the world of the supercar was joined by Porsche again, but this time, Porsche made sure they would make a high production supercar that was guaranteed to make money. They succeeded and they weren’t the only ones, because Mercedes had a dip in the honey pot too.
Since its release in 2001, the Lamborghini Murcielago has already sold over 2,000 units and in just 4 years Lamborghini has already sold 5,000 Gallardo’s. Porsche rapidly sold out their entire 2004 Carrera GT production line. Originally 1500 units had been planned, but that was dropped to 250 units, however by the time production ceased in 2005, 1,275 had slipped out.
Ferrari sold out 399 Enzo supercars within a matter of months. The 400th Enzo was given to the Pope, and spawned off the Enzo was a car called the MC12, produced by Maserati which had the same 6.0 litre 12 cylinder as well as the same carbon chassis as the Enzo. 50 MC12’s were produced, excluding the MC12 Corsa (a trackday version)
Over 1,100 Ford GT’s were produced and over 1,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren’s have been made. You know what’s really amazing? Bugatti has already delivered 60 Veyron’s, and they still have nearly 80 other Veyron’s to build. I forgot to mention – they are worth more than one million Euros a piece!
The point being is the world of the supercar is no longer exclusive. Sure, 1,000 vehicles is rare, especially when compared to the volume sales of a Toyota Camry, but in all honesty, the rate at which these supercars are being produced has somewhat damped their appeal (in my eyes anyways) Supercars used to be rare and special – while there are still those certain manufacturers which do retain old school values and production (Pagani and somewhat Koenigsegg) many of the big companies have turned to a massive production line with big profits.
Of course, that’s how things go. This should be fully expected – but it still bothers me.
What also irritates me is the amount of models being released from these manufacturers. How many versions of the Gallardo have we had? I’d say too many – 2006 MY, SE, Spyder, Superleggera. How many Koenigsegg models? CC8S, CCX, CCR, CCXR, CCGT..
What is a supercar? Well I suppose it is a vehicle which is expensive, powerful, fast and exclusive. That last part, “exclusive”, is that true? Well perhaps that’s not to so anymore, because these “exclusive” supercars are becoming less and less exclusive as more manufacturers appear each year. Not to mention, the actual production figures set for these new generation of supercars is downright absurd.
I suppose you could say the birth of the supercar was with the Lamborghini Miura in the early 70’s, however that was at a time when the supercar market was small. In fact, it belonged to two companies, Porsche & Ferrari. Lamborghini was just a follower at the time but still, that left only three supercar manufacturers to purchase from. Also worth mentioning, none of these brands sold exceptionally well, with the exception of Porsche. Even then, over those 40+ years of 911 production, the Cayenne SUV outsold every single 911 made in those four decades.
The real market of the supercar started in the 1990’s when a hoard of new manufacturers appeared as well as a new generation of hypercars from the legendary Porsche, Ferrari and now Lamborghini. Porsche’s offering was a homologation special called the 959, powered by a 2.8 litre Boxer 6 cylinder developing around 450bhp.
The 959 truly marked a new era for supercars, not only in terms of speed, but technology. In fact, no car at the same time had anywhere the same level of technology, and even by today’s standards, it’s one of the most complicated vehicles ever built. The 959 featured computer controlled AWD (new to Porsche at the time – purposely made for a 959 made to compete in the rally world), a self leveling suspension with an adjustable ride height, sequential turbochargers, and an advanced body design with a 0.31 CD. By the time the 959 went out of production (in 1991 – I think...) Porsche had made a little under 300 examples. The biggest problem with the 959 project was that because the 959 was so expensive to make, Porsche lost a ton of money on each and every 959 sold. So then it goes without saying – the 959 project was a failure, in terms of gathering money anyways.
At the same time, Ferrari had developed a supercar commemorating their 40th anniversary, the F40. This 478bhp supercar didn’t have anywhere the technology of the German wonder, but it was a far greater success for the supercar world and Ferrari. Originally, Ferrari had planned to make just 300 vehicles, but the orders kept pouring in and as a result, a total of 1,315 vehicles had been built by the time its production stopped in 1992.
The F40’s success had sprouted a new root among the supercar world – not only was it a great success, but it was the first time an exclusive supercar had been made mass produced. Adding to the F40’s glory was the fact that it was the first production car to hit 200mph, and in 1988, the F40 could sprint to 100mph in under 8.0 seconds.
Once into the early 90’s, Lamborghini revealed a successor to the Countach, called the Diablo. Even British manufacturer, Jaguar, wanted a piece of the action and revealed the XJ220. Originally a concept car, to be powered with a V12 hauling an AWD system, set for a new goal – 220mph. By the time the XJ220 had been officially made available to the public, it featured neither a 12 cylinder nor an AWD drivetrain. However, it did feature a 3.5 litre V6 derived from Jaguar’s racing program and to squeeze some extra power, Jaguar installed two turbochargers. The end result was an astonishing 542bhp! (far more than the 959 and the F40) While it never reached its 220mph goal, it did reach a recorded 213mph (making it the fastest car in the world until the McLaren F1 arrived)
As for production – Jaguar had not planned for the XJ220 to be F40 popular, and like the 959, a mere 300 were produced.
By the time the mid 90’s arrived supercars were arriving at a new peak. In this year, Porsche released yet another homologation special, the 993 GT1. However, this time Porsche was much more careful and stuck to 25 vehicles (the required limit by the racing association)
1995 was also the year when Ferrari released their 50th anniversary car, the F50. This time, Ferrari had a very much different approach. Rather than modifying an older 8 cylinder, it was deemed proper to install a modified F1 12 cylinder into the F50. 4.7 litres, 520bhp – 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds. While the transformation from a forced induction V8 to a naturally aspirated V12 had its consequences (drop in torque for the F50, just 347lb-ft compared to 425lb-ft of the F40) the F50 was the first Ferrari road car to seriously focus on F1 technology for the road. While often criticized for being a step behind the F40, in terms of handling and power delivery, it was miles ahead. A total of 350 F50’s were built, making it a far less profitable vehicle than the F40.
Of course – the McLaren F1 should be mentioned. Thrown onto the market in 1994 with a price of a one million Euros, McLaren sold just 64 vehicles. The F1’s party piece was a 6.1 litre BMW 12 cylinder (with 627bhp) and with its lightweight construction it could propel it’s self to 100mph in 6.3 seconds. The F1 was also capable of 240.1 mph, smashing the previous record held by the XJ220.
The 2000’s marked yet another new generation of supercars with higher profitability and sales figures. In 1999, small Italian manufacturer Pagani joined us and in 2000, both Spyker (Dutch) and Engineering B (Italian) joined the fray. In 2001, a manufacturer called Koenigsegg arrived, Lamborghini released a new supercar, the Murcielago and in 2002 Ferrari also released a new supercar, called the Enzo.
Since 2000, the supercar world has been joined by a fleet of newcomers. By the time Ferrari’s production of the 360 Modena had ceased in 2004, they had sold over 8,000 units. In 2004 the world of the supercar was joined by Porsche again, but this time, Porsche made sure they would make a high production supercar that was guaranteed to make money. They succeeded and they weren’t the only ones, because Mercedes had a dip in the honey pot too.
Since its release in 2001, the Lamborghini Murcielago has already sold over 2,000 units and in just 4 years Lamborghini has already sold 5,000 Gallardo’s. Porsche rapidly sold out their entire 2004 Carrera GT production line. Originally 1500 units had been planned, but that was dropped to 250 units, however by the time production ceased in 2005, 1,275 had slipped out.
Ferrari sold out 399 Enzo supercars within a matter of months. The 400th Enzo was given to the Pope, and spawned off the Enzo was a car called the MC12, produced by Maserati which had the same 6.0 litre 12 cylinder as well as the same carbon chassis as the Enzo. 50 MC12’s were produced, excluding the MC12 Corsa (a trackday version)
Over 1,100 Ford GT’s were produced and over 1,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren’s have been made. You know what’s really amazing? Bugatti has already delivered 60 Veyron’s, and they still have nearly 80 other Veyron’s to build. I forgot to mention – they are worth more than one million Euros a piece!
The point being is the world of the supercar is no longer exclusive. Sure, 1,000 vehicles is rare, especially when compared to the volume sales of a Toyota Camry, but in all honesty, the rate at which these supercars are being produced has somewhat damped their appeal (in my eyes anyways) Supercars used to be rare and special – while there are still those certain manufacturers which do retain old school values and production (Pagani and somewhat Koenigsegg) many of the big companies have turned to a massive production line with big profits.
Of course, that’s how things go. This should be fully expected – but it still bothers me.
What also irritates me is the amount of models being released from these manufacturers. How many versions of the Gallardo have we had? I’d say too many – 2006 MY, SE, Spyder, Superleggera. How many Koenigsegg models? CC8S, CCX, CCR, CCXR, CCGT..
1 comment:
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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