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The idea of a road car with 1000 horsepower seemed faintly ridiculous not long ago, but now there’s a growing number of members in this exclusive club.
Many far exceed that entry requirement and plenty have help from electric motors, pointing to the direction hypercars are taking.
Here’s our list of those that make the grade in ascending order of power output - we also state the year the first car became available:
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Lucid Air - 1000bhp (2018)
The Lucid Air might only just scrape into the 1000bhp club, but it does it with no tailpipe emissions due to its lithium-ion batteries and twin electric motors. This is the version to have to keep company with other 1000bhp+ cars, though Lucid does offer a mere 400bhp model. Choose the more potent version and it sees off 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds and tops out at a restricted 217mph.
Impressive stuff for a four-door saloon aimed at the luxury end of the market. Just as relevantly, the Air can manage up to 400 miles between recharging halts and rapid charging means you can be ready to go in 30 minutes. And Lucid Air wants more than just hypercar customers to own the Air, so the price for the entry model is $52,500 (£43,000) in the USA, though you'll only get 400 horses for that. The company is based in California-based, and recently received a $1 billion investment from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
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SVE Stage II Yenko/SC Corvette - 1000bhp (2018)
Speciality Vehicle Engineering has a background in drag racing in the USA, so building a 1000bhp Corvette is well within its usual sphere of work. The Stage II Yenko/SC uses a much modified 6.8-litre Chevrolet engine with a supercharger added to gain that magic four digit power figure.
It works through a seven-speed manual gearbox as standard, with a ticket price of $68,995 (£53,000) over and above the cost of buying a Corvette. That makes this possibly the best value 1000bhp car on offer today.
The Yenko Corvette also has uprated brakes and suspension to cope with the power, but if that sounds like too much to handle the company also makes one with 835bhp. Or you can have a Camaro with the same choice of engines.
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Cadillac CTS-V HPE1000 - 1000bhp (2018)
The power-crazed folk at Hennessey don’t just limit themselves to bespoke hypercars: they’ll build you a 1000bhp Cadillac CTS-V called the HPE1000.
This four-door luxury saloon offers 0-60mph in 2.7 seconds and 200mph top speed. All of this is thanks to the hand-assembled 6.2-litre V8 and supercharger, and it comes with a two-year, 24,000-mile warranty.
The Cadillac CTS-V HPE1000 retains the Cadillac’s automatic gearbox, suitably upgraded to cope with the power, and it’s rear-wheel drive. As a four-seater, the Hennessey’s power and performance make it an unusual choice if you can afford the $159,000 (£122,000) entry price.
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Zenvo TS1 GT - 1104bhp (2017)
The Zenvo name may not be familiar to many, but its TS1 GT commands attention thanks to its many large numbers. They start with the 1104bhp from the twin-supercharged 5.8-litre V8 engine, which is generated at 7100rpm. There’s also 840lb ft of torque to hand to help see the Zenvo to 233mph and 0-60mph in 3.0 seconds.
Then there’s the £1.2 million ($1.56 million) asking price for a car made in Denmark that very few people have ever heard of. This might explain the much smaller number intended for production with a total of 15 TS1 GTs planned at a rate of five per year.
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Aston Martin Valkyrie - 1160bhp (2019)
It didn’t take Aston Martin long to shift all 150 road-going Valkyrie cars as customers clamoured for the V12-engined hypercar. With 1160bhp, it’s easily the most powerful car the company has ever produced and the quickest too. Aston says the car can lap the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in the same time as a current Formula 1 car thanks to its huge amounts of downforce that allow for high cornering speeds.
The 6.5-litre V12 petrol engine is sufficient to see the Valkyrie into the 1000bhp club, while the electric motor adds 160bhp to the mix. To build these engines, Aston sought help from Cosworth for the V12 and Rimac for the electric motor, and combined they offer more than 1bhp per kilogramme thanks to the car’s 1030kg (2266 lb) weight.
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Bugatti Veyron Super Sport - 1184bhp (2010)
The Veyron may have been usurped by the Chiron now, but Bugatti’s original hypercar remains the most recognisable and the Super Sport was its ultimate incarnation. Its 1184bhp was some 198bhp more than the standard Veyron’s and pushed top speed up to 268mph while lowering the 0-62mph sprint to 2.5 seconds.
Only 25 Super Sports were made at a price of £2 million (US$3 million). If the price seems steep, it’s worth considering the engine could drain its 100-litre tank in less than eight minutes if driven flat out.
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Mercedes-AMG Project One - 1231bhp (2020)
The idea of a Formula 1 car for the road has never really been realised, but Mercedes-AMG gets closer than most with its Project One. Using an F1-derived hybrid power set-up, the Project One comes with a 1.6-litre V6 petrol engine and four electric motors to deliver up to 1231bhp.
Electricity isn’t just for the quadruple motors either as the Project One V6’s turbocharger is electrically powered to get the most from every drop of fuel. As a result, we're promised that this Mercedes will cover 0-62mph in less than 2.5 seconds and won’t stop till 217mph is registering on the speedo.
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SSC Ultimate Aero XT - 1300bhp (2013)
The SSC Aero kickstarted this Corvette-powered hypercar line with 782bhp and the Ultimate Aero finished it with 1300bhp. Twin turbochargers helped the XT almost double the starting horsepower of the car and saw top speed reach 256mph, though wind tunnel testing suggested it could manage 273mph in favourable conditions.
The XT was the only Ultimate Aero to use a 6.9-litre Chevrolet V8 motor and during testing for its top speed runs it was reported to generate wheelspin at 190mph. With that sort of power on demand, it may explain why only five of the $740,000 (£568,000) XTs found buyers.
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NextEV NIO EP9 - 1360bhp (2016)
The NextEV NIO EP9 has recorded a 6min 45.9sec lap of the Nürburgring Norschleife, putting it just half a second behind a Lamborghini Aventador LP770-4 SVJ on very sticky tyres. So, the EP9 is the quickest EV so far around this track and very quick in corners as well as in the straight line.
It does help when you have 1340bhp, or 1-megawatt, on call from the NextEV’s four electric motors. Just as vitally, the EP9 comes with active suspension and aerodynamics that generate 2.5-tonnes of downforce at 150mph to come close to matching a Formula 1 car’s. All of this will set you back US$1.2 million (£920,000) and six have been sold so far.
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Bugatti Chiron - 1479bhp (2017)
Few doubted the Chiron would trump the Veyron when Bugatti launched the new model, but a leap of 296bhp to come up with 1479bhp was still a surprise. That’s a lot of power for £2.5 million (US$3.3 million) and it can hit 261mph, though this is electronically limited due to the tyres not being able to cope with any more.
While that top speed is attention-grabbing, it’s what else the quad-turbo 8.0-litre W16 Chiron does with its huge power that entertains. Nought to 60mph in 2.4 seconds isn’t as quick as some, but the Bugatti just keeps forcing its way forward with no let up before it bumps into that limiter at 261mph like a bull annoyed at being held back by a gate. It’s a stark demonstration of just how powerful the Chiron is.
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Koenigsegg Regera - 1500bhp (2016)
Koenigsegg is unapologetic about not chasing ever larger numbers from its turbocharged 5.0-litre V8 motor. It reckons that’s plenty and instead sought better throttle response with smaller turbos. This is possible thanks to the engine making 1100bhp on its own and any lag from the turbos is filled in by the 700bhp electric motor, giving a combined 1500bhp.
So, the Regera is a hybrid hypercar that has a 255mph top speed reined in by an electronic limiter. It can also cover 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds and sprint from rest to 186mph in 10.9 seconds. All of this is managed without a traditional gearbox as the Regera uses the Swedish firm’s Direct Drive transmission that helps to keep weight down to 1590kg (3498 lb) compared to the heft of a Bugatti Chiron, at 1995kg (4389 lb).
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Weineck Cobra - 1600bhp (2016)
There are Cobra replicas and then there’s 1600bhp street legal Weineck Cobra. About the only thing this open-top two-seater has in common with the 1960s original is the basic shape, and even then, the Weineck sports a massive bonnet scoop to feed air to the 16.0-litre V8.
Yes, that’s right, the Weineck can be had with engines of up to 16.0-litres, which is enough to catapult it from rest to 0-186mph in less than 10 seconds with no assistance from turbo or supercharging. Each motor is hand-built at a factory at Bad Gandersheim in Germany and can rev to 9500rpm. All of this explains the €545,000 (US$613,000/£467,000) price tag for this roadgoing drag machine.
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Hennessey Venom F5 - 1600bhp (2019)
Hennessey describes the Venom F5 as ‘America’s Hypercar’. That’s about as fair a description as you can get before the numbers begin to boggle your brains.
It’s easily done when you consider this sleek looking machine packs a twin-turbo 7.6-litre V8 with 1600bhp. This is enough for a claimed 0-60mph in less than 3.0 seconds, 0-186mph in under 10 seconds and from rest to 249mph needing less than half a minute of your time.
Another consequence of the Hennessey’s huge power output is a top speed quote at 301mph, though this is yet to be proven. Only 24 Venom F5s are planned for production and each will cost US$1.6 million (£1.23 million), which makes the Venom look like keen value next to a Bugatti Chiron.
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Rimac C_Two - 1914bhp (2019)
Rimac has already made its mark with the Concept One electric hypercar. Each of the eight built cost US$1 million and that bought you a battery-powered car capable of 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds courtesy of its 1224bhp. But that’s not nearly enough for this Croatian firm, so it’s come up with the C_Two with 1914bhp from its two front and two rear motors.
The company is planning to build 150 C_Two models, each costing £1.5 million. For this, you get a zero emissions car able to dash off 0-62mph in 1.85 seconds and carry on to 258mph thanks to new liquid-cooling for the battery packs. Fully charged, they offer a range of 341 miles as tested under WLTP conditions.
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Pininfarina Battista - 1900bhp (2020)
Unveiled at the 2019 Geneva motor show, the Battista is the Italian design house's first original piece. Taking technical cues from the brainboxes over at Rimac, this electric hypercar is set to be the most powerful production car ever to come out of Italy and will crack 0-60mph in under 2 seconds. We can't wait.
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