SSC

Between 2006 and 2013, SSC North America (formerly known as Shelby SuperCars) held the title of fastest production car in the world thanks to its 256-mph Ultimate Aero rear-/mid-engine coupe. SSC was eventually dethroned by the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, but now, the U.S.-based boutique automaker is stepping back in the ring with the Tuatara. The question is - does it have what it takes to best the current crop of outrageous top speed-makers?

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Originally unveiled in 2011 as a concept car, the SSC Tuatara has finally evolved into a production car. It was shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2018, and it promises to be faster and more powerful than its predecessor, the Ultimate Aero.

Established in 1999, SSC North America, formerly known as Shelby SuperCars Inc., took the supercar market by surprise when it established a new world speed record for production cars with the Ultimate Aero in 2007. Driven to a top speed of 256.18 mph, the Aero surpassed the Bugatti Veyron’s 253.7-mph benchmark. The French firm regained its record three years later with Super Sport, which hit a certified top speed of 267.81 mph.

Eight years have passed since then, and the speed record is now being held by the Koenigsegg Agera RS at 277.9 mph, but SSC promises to move the benchmark into 300-mph territory with the Tuatara. Let’s find out more about that in the review below.

Continue reading to learn more about the SSC Tuatara.

Remember the Tuatara, the concept car that SSC North America, formerly known as Shelby SuperCars, unveiled in 2011? The supercar finally made its debut in production form at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and it seems to deliver exactly what SSC promised seven years ago.

Folks like you and me - we’re a little different. Our concept of beauty usually involves perfect welds, elegant intake runners, and elegantly mounted turbine housings, as evidenced by the drool we produce when gazing at the SSC Tuatara’s new twin-turbo V-8. It’s a very pretty thing to look at, that’s for sure, but the real question is this - will it have the right stuff to put SSC back on the top speed throne?

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U.S.-based supercar producer SSC has been quiet for several years now, but just broke the silence with a new teaser image of its forthcoming model. Dubbed the Tuatara, the fresh offering looks to take on the best of the best for ultimate top speed production glory.

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SSC North America has been teasing us with the Tuatara supercar since 2011. The highly anticipated vehicle could finally become a reality next year, as the Washington-based manufacturer is laying ground for a state-of -the-art production facility in West Richland, WA.

The company’s plan to move its operations in a new facility isn’t new, but the project has been lagging for a about a year due to financial difficulties. Fortunately, SSC North America has managed to find the necessary funding for the $6-million project and construction of the facility is set to start in August 2014, Tri-City Herald reports.

SSC’s new headquarters will be located on a 40-acre land near Belmont Boulevard and Keene Road. The facility will include everything: an assembly line, a showroom to offices, and even a museum area. The factory should open in the first quarter of 2015. "This is a lifelong dream for me. We will get there and the project will be very successful," said company founder Jerod Shelby.

Click past the jump to read more about the SSC Tuatara.

The upcoming SSC Tuatara is the hotly anticipated sophomore album from the Washington-based SSC North America team. SSC has built a name for itself via impressive top-speed-record runs with its existing model, the Diablo-esque SSC Ultimate Aero XT.

The Tuatara’s development continued this spring with engine and gearbox setups being refined since the concept car was revealed in late 2011. The new model builds a stunning exterior and interior atop the brute-force mechanical package from the Ultimate Aero XT. The latest news to emerge from the firm is a 250 pound-feet bump in engine torque following durability testing, and news of a 300 mph speedometer, feeding rumors of a top speed well above the 276 mph initially quoted.

The style and presence of the white concept Tuatara created quite a stir when shown at Pebble Beach in 2011. Designed by the talented-but-bizarre Jason Castriota of SAAB and Fiat fame, the Tuatara most closely resembles the 2006 Maserati Birdcage 75th concept car in its smooth flowing panels and deep, milky-white paint finish. Castriota also worked on the Birdcage, but was not the lead designer. He now runs an independent design consultancy called Castriota Design.

UPDATE 5/1/2013: SSC just completed testing the Tuatara on the dyno and released all of the results. A release date has been officially set too. See more after the jump

Please follow the jump to learn more about the SSC Tuatara ahead of its first customer deliveries in January 2014.

A few days ago, the Guinness Book of World Records stripped the Veyron Super Sport of its "fastest production car" record due a violation of the official rules. Apparently, the Veyron used to set the speed record had its speed limiter disable, thereby negating the “production car” part of the record. Now, with the Veyron officially losing its crown, the SSC Ultimate Aero re-claimed the title.

According to SSC this is not how it wanted to get the title back to them, but it is good enough until the SSC Tuatara will be ready to show what it can do.

SSC Ultimate Aero set its record back in 2007 on a public highway in Washington when it was able to hit an impressive top speed of 256.14 mph (412.22 km/h). The Ultimate Aero kept the title of the fastest production car until 2010 when a Veyron Super Sport was able to hit a top speed of 267.8 mph (430.98 km/h).

Hit the jump for the press release and more on the SSC Ultimate Aero.

Back in August, SSC unveiled the Ultimate Aero XT, which was a special edition Ultimate Aero featuring an all-new 423.6-cubic-inch 1,300 horsepower engine, and an updated exterior and interior. The XT was limited to only 5 units with each carrying a different price tag, with the most expensive one being the car number No. 5 at a whopping $850,000.

According to SSC, the final Aero XT is now entering production, so if you were planning to acquire one, it looks like you have missed your chance. This last Aero XT features an exterior color specially chosen by the customer and that will never be used again on any Ultimate Aero or Tuatara.

This special edition also features some key assemblies that will be featured in the upcoming Tuatara. The company’s new supercar will be delivered to first customers in 2013.

Our hats go off to the bunch at SSC, now we just need to wait and see is the Tuatara is everything SSC has touted it as – essentially a Bugatti Veyron killer…

Every car nut has daydreamed about building a car. Hell, we do on a daily basis, and building one in real life would cost more money than we could ever imagine having in our checking accounts. Let’s suspend reality for a tick here and imagine that someone handed you a blank check and asked for you to build the ultimate supercar.

Well, we are going to go over all of the supercars and lay out what pieces from which cars would come together to create the ultimate supercar Frankenstein. Now, there are some rules here. We have to make sure things are feasible. Things like slapping a W-16 Veyron engine into a Lotus Elise will not work, therefore it flat out can’t be done.

We’ll review our favorites in each of the three major categories — body and chassis, engine, and transmission — and end it all up by giving you our estimated specifications for our new vehicle.

Click past the jump to experience our build.

When we decided to pit the two top supercars against one another, the list had to include the Bugatti Veyron, the Goliath of the supercar world. Its competitor, on the other hand, wasn’t nearly as clear cut, as there are numerous cars that you can match up against the Veyron and get a good fight.

The first one that we looked at was the Hennessey Venom GT and its 1,244-horsepower V-8. In all honesty, the Hennessey just feels more like a kit car to us, thanks to its Lotus Elise base. Granted, that’s one bad-ass, Bugatti killing kit car, but it still just didn’t feel right to us.

After spanning the globe trying to find a good competitor, we ended up right back in the U.S. with the all-new SSC Tuatara. This limited production supercar definitely has the power to handle the likes of the Veyron on paper, but we really need to dig in deep to see what really happens when we put them up against each other.

To find out who wins you’ll have to click past the jump.

The company formerly known as Shelby Super Cars, now known as SSC, has already released the replacement for its extreme supercar, the Ultimate Aero. This replacement car is dubbed the Tuatara. You didn’t think that SSC would let its one-multiple-world-record-holding supercar just ride away into the sunset, did you?

If you did, you’re mistaken, as SSC has just announced a special edition model of the Ultimate Aero, dubbed the Ultimate Aero XT, which boasts a power plant never before seen in an Ultimate Aero and styling to match the might behind the seats.

This model will literally be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it model, as there will only be a small number of examples built. From a quick glance, it looks like this special edition SSC will give the Ultimate Aero a proper send off into retirement, but is this new XT worth all of the hype?

You’ll have to click past the jump past the jump to see what we think of it.

SSC North America, better known as the parent company of models like the record breaking Ultimate Aero and the recently unveiled Tuatara, announced it will be dropping the Shelby name from its title, opting to only use the SSC nomenclature. Apparently, there was way too much confusion when it came to whether or not Jerod Shelby (SSC’s founder) was in any way related to automotive legend, Carroll Shelby.

Jerod Shelby, Founder and Lead Designer, said in an official press release: "After several months of successfully launching our new corporate name and solidifying further International brand awareness for SSC at the Dubai International Motor Show and Top Marques in Macau, it was the right time to officially announce our name change."

"We have always wanted to focus on the pride associated with being an American built supercar and the timing is right," Shelby stated. "We have previously launched the Tuatara in both Shanghai and Pebble Beach and these two events in Dubai and Macau ensure the appropriate branding we are hoping to achieve for our company worldwide."

We don’t necessarily see how only using SSC will stop the annoying "relation" question from being asked, especially since SSC stands for Shelby Super Cars anyway, but with vehicles like the Aero and the Tuatara diving into the supercar market, Jerod Shelby will more than likely get his own following.

Going through all of the glorious supercars of 2011 was no easy task, especially since it felt like every random country of the world was developing their own supercar. Each vehicle we came across deserved to have their time to shine on the list for best supercar of 2011, but as time went on, it was clear which ones stood out above all of the rest.

A couple of the supercars on the list shouldn’t surprise anyone, especially since they were created by one of the top supercar makers in the world. Then there are the relative newbies to the group that have received enough recognition to warrant praise from the average car enthusiast, but the final vehicle would probably not be recognized by many and its home country may actually cause ridicule to ensue. The end result, however, was enough to give it a spot on our list.

Hit the jump to check out which of the supercar bad boys made it to the top of our list for Supercar of the Year.

SSC’s answer to Bugatti’s record breaking Veyron came in the form of the ultra-fast and expertly designed Tuatara released about a year ago. This supercar boasts of an insane quad-cam, twin-turbo 6.8L V8 barreling out a colossal 1350HP and a proposed top speed of 275 mph! Basically, this car is shaping up to be a heart-stopping, Veyron-slaying super car of epic proportions, and now we can match the killer looks and power with the advanced interior recently developed by SSC.

This futuristic interior was developed following the aerospace design found on the exterior. In fact, many of the interior elements found on the Tuatara resemble specific elements of the exterior. For example, the two small, informational HUD displays situated on the left and right of the driver are inspired by the Tuatara’s rear winglets and the central AC vents were inspired by the Tuatara’s twin central exhausts. The holes pattern on the top of the central console area are inspired by the hole patterns on the Tuatara’s exterior body panels and the door pulls even have their exterior counterpart in the flying buttresses from the rear sides of the car.

Click here for a video of the car’s interior.

More on the interior of the SSC Tuatara after the jump.

Shelby Supercars has released new details on the new generation Aero that is set to take on the Veyron SuperSports record. The SSC Aero II is powered by a 6.8-liter four-cam twin-turbo engine that develops an impressive 1,350 HP at 9,000 rpm. Top speed will be in the 440 km/h area or 273 mph. The current world record was set by Bugatti and is 267 mph.

The Aero II will be offered with ABS, traction control, power steering, and Brembo carbon ceramic brakes. It will also be given an active air brake system inspired by airplanes. It will go on sale at a price of $970,000.

Top Gear’s thoughts on the supercar: "A crush on your body, a blur on your vision. As magnetic and sinister as peering over the edge of a cliff at crashing waves hundreds of feet below. A headlong rush - a physical one towards the far-distance, and a metaphorical rush towards the edges of your own self-restraint that, for me at any rate, exposes a gaping shortfall of skill to make the best of torque that can, because there’s no traction control, produce extravagant wheelspin in the first three gears and occasionally in fourth beyond 100mph."

That’s a fantastic description if we’ve ever heard one. And now that TopGear has revealed more details on the SSC Ultimate Aero II, we expect the official debut to come soon. Stay tuned!

The highly-anticipated arrival of the Bugatti Veyron slayer, the SSC Ultimate Aero II, is fast approaching. We’ve seen a few spy photos of the America supercar, but now it looks like Top Gear Magazine may have done all of us better. A lot better.

In the October issue of Top Gear, the magazine was given full access by Shelby Supercars to get as much load as they can on the Ultimate Aero II, the one car that is expected to make a run at the Veyron Supersport speed record for a production car.

Needless to say, we’re all geeked up to see the American powerhouse in action, and while the sight of the Jason Castriota-designed machine is still a ways away, we can take comfort in salivating over the new photos of the Ultimate Aero II that will make their way to the October issue of Top Gear magazine.