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SSC – Technical Data
Shelby SuperCars built the Tuatara to do what seemed impossible: create an American hypercar that actually hit 200 mph in production form. Born from Jerod Shelby's refusal to accept the limits set by Ferrari and Lamborghini, SSC operates from Richland, Washington with pure engineering obsession—no committees, no compromises. A 1,350-horsepower twin-turbo V8 and relentless focus on speed separate this boutique maker from the hypercar establishment.
Founded1998Jerod Shelby
HeadquartersRichland, WashingtonUSA
Models in the Catalog1
Annual production~0.05 million vehicles
All SSC Models
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About SSC
One man. One obsession. SSC — Shelby SuperCars — started in 1998 when Jerod Shelby decided the world needed a hypercar that could actually hit 200 miles per hour and live to tell about it. Not a concept. Not a promise. An actual production machine. Based in Richland, Washington, the company refused to play by traditional automotive rules. While Ferrari and Lamborghini were building heritage brands, SSC was building something different — raw, uncompromising speed wrapped in carbon fiber.
What separates SSC from the hypercar crowd? Pure engineering audacity. The company doesn't do committees. Doesn't do focus groups. The Tuatara represents everything they believe in: a 5.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 producing 1,350 horsepower, a 7-speed automated manual transmission that shifts faster than you can blink, and a target top speed that had engineers questioning their sanity. Built for speed. Built to win. That's it. No luxury features nobody needs, no infotainment systems that'll be obsolete in three years. Just velocity.
The current lineup is lean — intentionally so. SSC produces roughly 50 cars annually, which means each one gets obsessive attention. The Tuatara stands as their singular masterpiece, a hypercar engineered to demolish speed records and challenge everything you think you know about what's possible from a small American builder. Ever wonder why bigger companies fail where smaller ones succeed? Vision. When you're not managing shareholders or protecting legacy, you can take risks that matter. SSC took them. And they're still taking them today.
History
Jerod Shelby founded SSC North America in 1998 in Richland, Washington with one obsession: build the world's fastest production car. Not a concept. Not a one-off. A real machine you could theoretically buy and drive home. Shelby had spent years in the supercar world, tuning Dodge Vipers and pushing their limits, and he'd grown frustrated with what existed. Why settle for good when you could pursue impossible? He gathered a small team of engineers and set out to prove that an American company could out-engineer the Italian exotics and German precision machines that dominated hypercars at the time.
The early years were lean. Shelby operated out of a modest facility while the company developed its first model—the Tuatara. Named after a prehistoric New Zealand lizard, the car was designed to be radically different from anything on the road. Mid-engine layout. Twin-turbocharged V8. Lightweight carbon-fiber construction throughout. The project stretched longer than planned—development consumed years as Shelby refused to compromise on any detail. Sound familiar? That's perfectionism. It's expensive. But it's also what separates interesting failures from genuinely revolutionary machines. By 2009, the first Tuatara prototype rolled out. Stunning. Aggressive. Ready to hunt records.
Then came the moment. November 2020. SSC claimed the Tuatara had achieved 316 miles per hour on a closed course in Nevada. That changed everything. A U.S. company. An American hypercar. Breaking the absolute speed record for a production vehicle. Skeptics emerged immediately—video evidence showed some inconsistencies, independent verification proved elusive, and the automotive world split into camps. Did they truly hit 316? Reports vary. What mattered was that SSC had captured global attention. The Tuatara wasn't just fast on paper anymore. It was a credible threat to the European establishment.
Throughout the 2010s, SSC refined the Tuatara relentlessly. Power climbed to 1,750 horsepower on E85 fuel. Aerodynamics were obsessed over. Suspension geometry tweaked endlessly. Each revision represented Shelby's unwillingness to accept the previous version as final. By 2023, SSC had delivered a handful of Tuataras to customers around the world—not mass production, obviously, but real cars in real hands. Price? Around $1.6 million. For that money you got exclusivity, engineering that bordered on obsessive, and the knowledge that you owned something genuinely rare. That's the SSC promise.
Today SSC remains independent and focused. A boutique manufacturer with ambitions that dwarf its size. The company continues development of the Tuatara platform while exploring what comes next. Electric hypercars? Shelby has mentioned the possibility. Check out SSC's electric lineup for what the future might hold. In a world of billion-dollar manufacturers and established dynasties, SSC represents something almost extinct: a genuine startup that refused to quit, refused to compromise, and dared to challenge the establishment on ground where they'd already won.
Ssc Model Categories
Technical overview of SSC models
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Coupe
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1750 PS
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RWD
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The Bottom Line
The Bottom Line
SSC — a brand that swung for the fences and actually connected. Founded on American audacity and engineering obsession, they proved that boutique manufacturers could still challenge the establishment when they refused to compromise. One hypercar. One vision. That's their entire catalog, and somehow it worked. The SUV lineup remained focused, never chasing trends. No electric distractions watering down the brand. They built cars for people who didn't need to justify their choices. In a world of corporate committees and focus groups, SSC stayed true to the original mission — absolute performance, nothing else. That's rarer than you'd think.
Frequently asked questions about SSC
How many models does SSC currently produce?
When was SSC founded?
Shelby SuperCars was founded in 1998 by Jerod Shelby in Richland, Washington. That's over 25 years ago now. The company started with one crazy vision: build the fastest production car on the planet. They've stuck to that mission ever since without compromise. The Tuatara represents the culmination of everything they've learned.
What's SSC's signature technology?
Twin-turbocharged V8 power. The Tuatara runs a 5.9-liter twin-turbo engine producing 1,350 horsepower on E85 fuel. That's not just impressive—it's absolutely bonkers. SSC engineered the whole car around extreme aerodynamics and lightweight construction. Carbon fiber everywhere. Active aero that actually works. The result? A 0-60 time under 2.5 seconds and a claimed top speed that pushes 300 mph. No production car has touched that before.
Does SSC make electric vehicles?
Not yet. SSC is all-in on internal combustion engines right now. They're focused on maximizing traditional performance technology rather than chasing electrification trends. That said, the automotive world changes fast. You can browse their electric vehicle lineup to see if that's shifted. For now though? Pure gasoline and turbochargers.
What's SSC's most popular model?
The Tuatara is their only model, so it's automatically their most popular. Production numbers are tiny—we're talking single digits per year. But that's intentional. SSC isn't trying to move volume. They're building automotive art for collectors who understand extreme performance. At roughly $1.9 million per car, it's not exactly a mass-market proposition anyway.
Source: SSC North America (official), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Wikipedia, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Smithsonian National Museum of American History·Last updated