SSC announce all-new Tuatara supercar

Shelby Supercars (SSC) – the American company best known for creating the Veyron slaying Ultimate Aero – has revealed its newest model of supercar, the Tuatara.

Pronounced “twu‐tar‐ah”, the next-gen hypercar is SSC’s latest hope of regaining the bragging rights for creating the world’s fastest production car, which were stolen by Bugatti with the Veyron Super Sport last year. The company will be hoping that the Tuatara’s 7.0 litre twin turbo, 1350 hp V8 and carbon fibre body will be enough to send it past the Super Sport’s top speed of 431 km/h. It will also feature a 7-Speed Manual H-Pattern or 7-Speed SMG Paddle Shift transmission.

Shelby have said that the name Tuatara comes from a reptile in New Zealand descended from the dinosaurs whose name means ‘peaks on the back’ when translated from Maori. The manufacturer says that this is fitting because of the car’s rear winglets and because of the fact that the Tuatara possesses the fastest evolving DNA in the world which, in the world of supercars, apparently SSC does too.

SSC’s Founder, Lead Designer and CEO Jerod Shelby said of the Tuatara project:

“The design specifications for the Next Generation SSC were so extreme; we knew early on that a proper name would be a key piece of the puzzle for this project. Most manufacturers essentially use the same basic model and body shape for up to 10 years, while only making small refinements to it each year. After only three years in production with the Ultimate Aero, SSC’s Tuatara is about to monumentally evolve in the areas of sophistication, design, aerodynamics and shear all‐around performance. We felt that the fastest evolving DNA was a perfect definition of SSC’s latest project.”

There is no word on when the Tuatara will be available for purchase, but reports are suggesting that speed testing will begin later this year.