Performance, speed, looks, and torque. Status, coolness, and exclusivity. Nothing spells ‘elite’ the way fancy, shiny, and sleek automobiles do. Whether you are a connoisseur or a collector, your taste in cars can be telling! For the uninitiated, it might be challenging to understand the difference between a good sports car and a supercar. To make matters even more confusing, you have hypercars in the running too! So, what is even the difference between them? Are all sports cars supercars? Not quite. Are supercars the same as hypercars? Not really. But are all hypercars also supercars? Yes, quite right. If you love cars, you better get your car taxonomy right. But, if the terminology and the nitty-gritty perplex you, we are here to help you wade through this complex, exhilarating, and no doubt ‘turbocharged’ journey.
What are supercars?
To describe supercars as high-performance beasts would be highly unfair, especially in an era when a horsepower exceeding 500 is no longer jaw-dropping. While sports cars are high-performance with break-neck speeds, not all sports cars are supercars. If so, what are supercars, and what determines this classification?
Simply put, the main factors that decide if your car is a supercar are performance, speed, rarity, and price. Latest innovations and advanced aerodynamic technologies marry to belt out a supercar. Supercars are often also released in an iterative fashion where each model is an improvement over its predecessor. With supercars, don’t be surprised to encounter hundreds of horsepower, steeply high price tags, a dizzyingly fast 0 to 60 mph time, and lap times that can shame even your favourite race cars. Additionally, a supercar’s distinguishing marks include incredible specifications and technology, aesthetically superior looks and design, and frustratingly long wait lists thanks to low-volume production.
With a guaranteed red-carpet entrance to the luxe club, owning a supercar is much like a declaration of taste, class, and enviable wealth.
What are hypercars?
Hypercars are the most exclusive, expensive, rarest, and the beastliest supercars. At the absolute pinnacle of the supercar universe sits the hypercar. Only the ritziest, most upper-crust supercars can join the hypercar list. But of course, every single hypercar is also a supercar—only better, bigger, and chicer. To simplify with an analogy, if you were a supercar, a hypercar would be your “perfect” cousin with whom your parents constantly compare you. That cousin whom you could never out-do, try as you may. The perpetual one-upper, the forever smarter, the perennially outperforming unicorn of a person against whom you seemingly cannot win. Each rendition of the hypercar symbolises automotive advancement; it is the gold standard of cars.
That said, most supercars are getting more and more advanced. What is extraordinary today is bound to be commonplace in the future. As technology advances, definitions of extravagant, insane, and remarkable get more dynamic. Competitors on the scene are already making even hypercars seem obsolete. With 1,500 horsepower—if this does not make your eyeballs pop out, we are not sure what will—the Swedish-made Koenigsegg Regera, a megacar, has already relegated the hypercar to the runner-up status.
Some supercars and hypercars to watch out for
The best will continue getting bested as part of natural, technological evolution. In the meantime, knowing what to keep a lookout for might be a good idea. As we mentioned earlier, these cars revel in their rarity.
If it is a supercar that you crave, you cannot miss the Aston Martin DBX 707. An upgraded version offering a whopping power output of 707 bhp, this is the machine for you if you want a sporty SUV.
And if piddly supercars don’t cut it for you anymore, perhaps it is time for a Ferrari LeFerrari. The reigning king, the crème de la crème of the category, the epitome of hypercars, Ferrari LeFerrari offers breathtaking performance with a horsepower of 950 and an insane 2.4-sec jump from 0 to 62 mph. But unfortunately, there are only 500 models of this behemoth, and each one costs a few million pounds. Or perhaps, you want to invest in the electric Lotus Evija. An all-electric hypercar which boasts a horsepower just shy of 2,000 bhp, the Lotus Evija offers a formidable competition to almost every other hypercar. It is even more exclusive because only 130 of these are available worldwide. Now that’s what you call rare!
Build your bespoke edition
Automakers are constantly trying to increase the elusiveness of supercars and hypercars. With the ‘bespoke’ variety, you can own a truly limited edition. Few-of-a-kind builds, as in the case of Lamborghini’s Countach LPI 800-4, are already bought off the market altogether. Requests for hand-painted inscriptions, detailed embroidery on seats, and one-off calliper designs are just the beginning. Building a hypercar from scratch like the Ares S1 is the latest obsession. These unique customisations give the owner heaps of ‘street cred’. Additionally, if cruising down an expressway to make heads turn is your dream, this is the route to take.
While the list of these limited-edition automotive monsters is short, the bills will invariably be long. Even so, life is short, and if fantasising about cutting-edge cars is your favourite pastime, it may be time to make that uber-expensive investment!
