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A wide variety of supercar brands can be witnessed these days. While many existing brands have entered the supercar market, many brands developed as supercar manufacturers only. Before jumping into the variety of supercar brands, let us first understand what a supercar is.
A supercar refers to any high-performance sports car. It is thus a prestigious, luxurious, flashy, and fast car that any sports car enthusiast would love to own. The prefix ‘super’ in supercar indicates that the term refers to the ‘best of best.’
Though all supercar brands manufacture high-performance cars, these cars differ in many essential respects like the exterior, interior, engine capacity, displacement, speed, etc.
If you are a car enthusiast, who wishes to know about the various supercar brands and the cars they offer, check out this article to get acquainted with them.
11 Supercar Brands
Some of the famous supercar brands out there are:
- Dodge
- Draco Motors
- Saleen Automotive, Inc.
- Chevrolet
- Vector Aeromotive Corporation
- Ford
- Mosler Automotive
- Hennessey Performance Engineering
- SSC North America
- Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus LLC
These supercars brands are discussed at length below:
1. Dodge
Image taken from Dodge official site
The second brand name in our list of supercar manufacturing brands is the American company Dodge. Dodge is an American automobile manufacturing company under the FCA US LLC, also known as Fiat Chrysler Group LLC.
The brand grew in popularity throughout its existence as Chrysler’s mid-priced brand was placed above Plymouth.
The brand name is often associated with ‘muscle car’ production and has earned a high status in terms of its performance amongst American supercar manufacturers. The company is headquartered near Auburn hills in Michigan, United States of America.
These muscle cars and supercars produced by Dodge came in a vast variety ranging from passenger cars to full-size trucks. Till the 1970s, the company had trucks, passenger cars, and compact vehicles like Dart, B-Body Coronet, and Charger.
Dodge’s SRT Challenger Super Stock is one of its most famous supercar models. The car comes with a vast body and fat tires, a highly charged V8 engine, and a capacity of 6.2 liters. The engine makes 807 horsepower and 707 lb-ft of torque.
Apart from these attractive engine-related features, the car tires are pretty grippy on the road. The car’s front suspension is designed for firm compression coupled with a soft rebound, while the rear suspension is equipped with both firm compression and firm rebound.
This makes it possible for the car to transfer most of the load to the rear.
Other attractive car features include a power chiller, launch control, etc.
2. Drako Motors
Image credit: Drako Motors
Drako Motors is another automotive company that indulges in the production of supercars and has thus made it to our list. This is an American company involved in producing luxury sports cars. It is based in San Jose, California, USA.
The company was founded in 2013 by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Dean Drako and Shiv Sikand, who currently hold the position of CEO and EVP in the company, respectively.
Though headquartered in California, the company serves worldwide through its flagship product Drako GTE, launched in 2019. The company was started with the idea of building driver-focused supercars, which were stunning and delivered breathtaking performances.
This was to be coupled with a system of maximum safety and control on the road and the track. In 2015, the company launched its single-VCU drive operating system, with four-wheel torque vectoring, called the Drive OS.
After hardworking in the background for about ten years, developing an unrelenting design, track development, and exhilarating engineering, the company finally launched its flagship product, the Drako GTE, in 2019. This was a limited edition electric sports car.
The all-electric Drako GTE was announced at Quail Motorsport in August 2019. The car is endowed with features like a quad motor and is a four-seater sedan, which is full-size and has four doors. The vehicle has a top speed of 206 mph and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds. It was to have only 25 copies, produced in 2020.
The following year, the company announced another vehicle, i.e., Draco Dragon, endowed with upgraded inverters, new cell technology in the battery, and a substantial increase in torque-producing capacity. It would also have an enhanced suspension and cooling system.
3. Saleen Automotive, Inc.
Image credit: Saleen Official Site
Saleen Automotive Inclusive is another supercar manufacturing company that has made it to our list of significant supercar manufacturing companies. It is commonly referred to as ‘Saleen’ and employs only around 80 people.
Unlike other companies featured in our inventory, this company not only produces sports supercars but also indulges in producing high-performing automotive parts.
The company was established in the year 1983 and was then called ‘Saleen Autosport.’ The company’s founder Steve Saleen owns a majority of its shares. Steve Saleen was a Formula Atlantic race car driver and was aware of the requirements of a successful racing car.
The company has its central facility in Corona, California, USA.
The first production run by Saleen Automotive Inc. in 1984 consisted of 3 cars with other hatchbacks: a black hatchback, a white hatchback, and a copper glow hatchback. The following year, the company prepared the Saleen Mustang, built on the first certified centrifugal supercharger.
The company competed in the race organized by Sports Car Club of America in 1986, with an improvised version of Saleen Mustang as its representative.
At the turn of the century, in 2000, the company launched its flagship product, the Saleen S7 sports car. This was a mid-engined sports car built to achieve high-performance standards. This was the company’s only production car not based on an existing design or chassis.
Otherwise, most of its vehicles were either based on a popular car model from another company or a previous product of this company. Another significant development concerning this company was the partnership with a Chinese city, Rugao, which led to the formation of Jiangsu Saleen Automotive Technology, which was responsible for the company’s operations in China.
4. Chevrolet
The fifth brand in our list of supercar manufacturers is Chevrolet. Although officially it’s the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, you might have heard somebody refer to the brand as ‘Chevy.’
As the company’s official name suggests, Chevrolet started as a division of America’s leading automotive company, General Motors. In 1911, Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant started the company separately.
Still, in 1918, a reverse merger occurred, leading to the company reverting back to the General Motors fold.
In 1919, the new General Motors President gave a maxim, “a car for every purse and purpose,” and chose Chevrolet to become the leader of other automotive divisions within General Motors.
The company sought to compete with Ford through this division and successfully did so by overtaking Ford’s Model T with Chevrolet International.
This company, of American origin, has an international presence. It operates in Oceania as Holden Special Vehicles and is famous for its Camaro and Silverado pickup trucks. Chevrolet even entered the European market, competing with brands like Vauxhall in the United Kingdom and Opel in Germany.
However, the company eventually decided to move out of European markets due to a lack of considerable success.
The company is involved in manufacturing various automobiles ranging from subcompact vehicles to medium-duty commercial trucks.
It also enters many models into sporting events like NASCAR, FIA World Touring Car Championship, and IndyCar.
Owing to its prominence and hegemonic status concerning other General Motors’ divisions, you often would have observed that ‘Chevy,’ ‘Chev,’ or ‘Chevrolet’ have been used interchangeably for General Motors and its products.
For instance, the trademark GM LS1 engine, a product of General Motors, is often considered a variant of Chevrolet’s small-block engine.
5. Vector Aeromotive Corporation
Image credit: Wikipedia.org
The Vector Aeromotive Corporation, currently existing as Vector Motors Corporation, is another automobile manufacturing company producing high-performing supercars.
This is an American company with its headquarters and most manufacturing units located in Wilmington, California, USA.
The origins of this company can be traced back to a venture called Vehicle Design Force, founded by Gerald Wiegert in 1978. The company operated as ‘Vector Aeromotive Corporation’ from 1989 to 1993 and consistently built high-performance sports cars.
After the company ceased to exist in 1993, it was revived in a rebranded manner as Vector Motors Corporation, with sports car manufacturing as its primary function.
Since its inception, the company has aimed to compete with European sports car manufacturing counterparts like Ferrari and Lamborghini. Across the decades of the 80s and 90s, around 50 sports car models were built by Vector Company using locally available American components.
These models were mainly named with a number and the letter W, taken from the initials of the company’s founder and owner family, Wiegert. The letter ‘X’ implies a reference to a prototype unit.
Some of the early sports car models produced by this company include the Vector W2, Vector W8, Avtech WX-3, Vector M12, Vector SRV8, etc.
In 2018, the company was involved in designing and manufacturing its latest model, the Vector WX-8 model, which was marketed as a ‘hypercar.’
Since the death of the company’s lead designer and engineer, chief executive, and principal owner Jerry Wiegert in January 2021, the company’s fate and the corporate entity have been put on cliffhangers.
The company’s facility and stores in Wilmington have been shut down and cleared out. Its domain registration has expired, and the company’s website has not been working for the past few months.
6. Ford
Ford, officially the Ford Motor Company, is another company on our list of supercar manufacturing brands. Founded by Henry Ford in 1903, this is an American company with its headquarters in Michigan, United States of America.
Although it has an American origin, it has an international presence. It is most famous for its commercial vehicles, which are sold under the Ford brand.
Its luxury vehicle division is called Lincoln, which indulges in manufacturing sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and luxury crossovers. The cars produced by this form one of the top luxury vehicles in the United States. This is a counterpart of General Motors’ Cadillac division. One of the initial vehicle lines produced by this company was the Lincoln
Continental, a personal luxury car segment released in the year 1940. This division, founded in 1917, was named after Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln has produced vehicles for livery use and limousines.
Besides its extravagant luxury division, Ford is remarkable because of owning companies like Troller, Aston Martin, and Jiangling Motors. It also has joint ventures like Changan Ford (China), Ford Lio Ho (Taiwan), AutoAlliance Thailand (Thailand), Ford Otosan (Turkey), and Ford Sollers (Russia).
The company is under the control of the Ford family, such that it has a majority of its voting power and minority ownership of its stocks.
You might have come across the word ‘Fordism’ and have wondered what it means. This word is associated with the methods introduced by this company for the large-scale production of automobiles, characterized by moving assembly lines.
The company is enormous, stands as the second largest company in the United States after General Motors, and is the fifth largest automobile company in the world based on its vehicle production.
7. Mosler Automotive
Image credit: moslerredux
Mosler Automotive is the following company on our list of powerful supercar manufacturing brands. This is another American company which deals with the manufacture of sports cars.
This company was started in 1985 by Warren Mosler. Initially, the company was founded as Consulier Industries and primarily manufactured the Consulier GTP.
The Consulier GTP was a sports car to be used for professional racing. The company indulged in the production of this car between 1985 and 1993. This was a mid-engined sports car, which used turbo engines, and was released in two series.
The majority of the mechanical components used in this car were sourced from Chrysler. This was the first Kelvar-bodied vehicle without structural metal composition.
This sports car had GTP Sport as the base model; GTP LX was the luxury model. Its luxury features were Fittipaldi wheels, Alpine sound system, leather upholstery, sunroof, VDO instrumentation, power mirrors and windows, wool carpet, tilt steering wheel, cruise control, air conditioning, power locks, etc.
Later on, the company branded its automotive division Mosler Automotive. This also culminated in the updating and rebranding the Consulier GTP as Mosler Intruder and Mosler Raptor in 1993. The new model came with a 300-hp GM LT1 engine.
The car won the Nelson Ledges racing competition for two consecutive years, i.e., 1993-94.
After seven years, these models were replaced by the Mosler MT900, a rear-wheel drive sports car with an advanced design and a 350-hp GM LS1 engine.
The company subsequently produced a street-legal MT900S along with an MT900R racer. It also led many unique ventures at its manufacturing site in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. The company, however, saw its demise in the year 2013.
8. Hennessey Performance Engineering
Image credit: hennesseyspecialvehicles.com
Hennessey Performance Engineering, just like other brands on our list, is a company that indulges in the manufacturing of supercars. However, it is different from others in an important respect: it builds new cars by tuning existing models from different brands.
Hennessey Performance Engineering is thus an American car tuning company, which has its specialization in tuning and modifying sports cars from many existing brands like Chevrolet, Porsche, Lotus, Dodge, Cadillac, Ferrari, Lincoln, GMC, McLaren, Lexus, Jeep, etc.
The company was founded in 1991 by John Hennessey, who currently serves as its Chief Executive Officer.
The company has its headquarters and significant facility in Sealy, Texas, United States of America, where it improves the power and capacity of vehicles by modifying the mechanical component, resulting in the manufacture of high-powered cars.
Besides their specialty in tuning sports cars, the company also takes up the modification of pickup trucks and SUVs (sports utility vehicles), for instance, Jeep Grand Cherokees and Ford Raptors; and luxury and muscle cars like Bentleys and Dodge Challenger and Charger.
The company founded a Tuner school in 2008. Located near the company’s headquarters, the school is a private institution built with the purpose of teaching and training supercar tuner technicians.
The company set up a division called the ‘Hennessey Special Vehicle’ division in 2017. Its main products include Hennessey Venom GT, Hennessey Venom 650R, Hennessey Venom F5, Hennessey Exorcist, Hennessey CTS-V, and VelociRaptor SUV, which was an off-road truck.
Besides, the company has been controversial because of numerous Better Business Bureau complaints registered in its name and lawsuits filed against its customer service.
9. SSC North America
Image credit: SSC North America Official Site
The second last supercar manufacturing brand on our list is SSC North America, an American company founded in 1999. The company was initially conceived as Shelby SuperCars Inc., after the owner Jerod Shelby.
It was later rebranded as its current name, SSC North America. The company specializes in the production of high-performing sports cars. It has its headquarters in Richland, near the Tri-Cities, Washington, USA.
The company’s first model came out in 2004 as the SSC Ultimate Aero. This was a mid-engined sports car equipped with a twin-turbocharged V8 engine with a capacity of around 6.35 liters. It produced 1287 bhp of horsepower.
Another remarkable model released by the company in 2007, ‘SSC Ultimate Aero,’ went on to gain a Guinness World Record for fastest car production.
SSC’s Ultimate Aero is equipped with a supercharged Chevrolet Corvette C5R V8 engine, which initially produced 782 horsepower and eventually rose to produce 908 horsepower, raising the top speed to 242 mph.
The car was built in two prototypes.
After a few years, in 2013, the SSC North America announced another model, called the SSC Ultimate Aero XT, which was a limited edition. This formed an updated Ultimate Aero, building on some of the features of the upcoming concept, Tuatara.
Essential features of this model included a Tuatara’s twin-turbocharged V8 engine, renewed paddle shifter transmission, and improvised fuel, cooling, and braking systems.
The current flagship product of SSC North America is the SSC Tuatara. It was given the title of ‘Crown Jewel’ in 2011 at the Dubai International Motor Show and has been a product of collaboration on design between SSC North America and Jason Castriota. It aims to surpass the top speed of 300 mph.
10. Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus LLC
Image credit: Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus official site
The last on our list of supercar manufacturing brands is Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus LLC. This is another American automotive company that manufactures high-performing supercars. It is commonly known as Glickenhaus and is often shorthanded to its initials, SCG.
The company is headquartered in the Sleepy Hollow region, New York, USA. It was founded in 2004 with a commitment to build limited, low-volume, high-performance cars by James Glickenhaus.
The company is a ‘boutique manufacturer’ of high-performing and exotic road and racing cars. Its tagline confirms this function, “Some companies build cars. We build dreams.”
The most famous and iconic model produced by SCG is the SCG 003, which has competed and won in many racing competitions like 24 Hours of Nurburgring. The SCG003 was a limited edition sports and racing car.
The car was initially introduced as P33 in 2013, while it was finally launched as SCG 003 at the Geneva Motor Show in 2015. Paolo Garella, a former Italian car designer, was called to engineer this model, while Granstudio worked on building its interior and exterior.
The SCG003 was to have three variants; for covering competition racing, track days, and road driving. All of them were equipped with similar changeable chassis to allow the interchange of parts.
These three variants are “Competizione” spec or 003C, “Competizione Stradale” or 003CS, and “Stradale” or 003S. These are equipped with a BMW V8 engine, which is twin-turbocharged and has a capacity of 4.4 liters.
Recently, the brand launched SCG 007 in the year 2021, which competed in the Le Mans Hypercar category in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Conclusion
Supercars are fun to drive around the city, owing to their good and finished look and high performance in terms of speed and capacity. If you are willing to spend vast scores of money to get this luxurious experience, then supercars are your type.
This article must have been worthwhile if you wished to know more about the different supercar brands and the features their cars offer.
This article’s information about the background of various car manufacturing brands and the features their cars offer would help you decide which brand to go for.
