I’d like you to look at that Ford GT up there. I’d like you to then think about its provenance, the Le Mans wins, 21st Century resurrection and the above batmobile hyper-rabid current edition, of which no more than 500 will be produced. I’d like to remind you that the same company that built all of that also built the Escort Diesel. And the 1980 Thunderbird.
Ford has the bonafides. Hell, they rock a big ol’ pair of cojones when it comes to performance—and I’m not being sexist, those are metaphorical cojones, not real ones! Chevy could also pull off a supercar, and have come close with the ZR1. Chrysler has done so with the Viper, but nobody seems to care any more, while both Acura and Lexus have done hyper halo cars to varying degrees of success.
That shows that success isn’t guaranteed. I think there are brands out there with images that just can’t support a super car, and I’ll bet you’ll agree. What we want to discuss today is: what are those brands, and why?
Image: ©2016 Hooniverse/Robert Emslie, All Rights Reserved
Hooniverse Asks: What Brand Couldn't Pull Off a Supercar?
By Robert Emslie
Apr 19, 2016
Kamil Kaluski 
Jeff Glucker
Fiat. At least not with the “cute” image they’ve cultivated in the U.S. since they started selling here again.
That didn’t stop them from trying…
http://bestcarmag.com/sites/default/files/9015687Ghia_Supersonic_Fiat_8V_1954_red_02.jpg
http://cornichewatches.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/fiat_8v_supersonic_coupe_3.jpg
That’s actually pretty hot!
Called the ‘8V’ because they assumed wrongly that Ford had copywritten ‘V8’.
Fiat were at one time the team to beat in Grand Prix racing. But there’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then.
Fun fact : before founding their respective companies, both Louis Chevrolet and Vincenzo Lancia drove Fiat racing cars. And both were proud owners of egregious moustaches.
Mustaches provide downforce.
There are not a whole Lada brands that couldn’t do it.
http://allracingcars.com/gallery/lada-samara/lada-samara-rally-jump.jpg
If that other brand starting with ‘LA’ can do a Group B rally car why can’t we?
http://rally5.com/wp-content/uploads/eva07.jpg
http://groupbrally.com/old/images/lada/samaraEVA/evaOpenedUp.jpg
Now that I’m looking at this on a screen bigger than my phone, I realize I’m almost certain I’ve seen this specific Samara in real life. The previous owners lived in my area, and I once found them loading it on a uHaul trailer near where I was working at the time.
Judging by the comments I’m reading lately Acura.
I was going to say Hyundai, but I think they are getting to a point in the US market where there is sufficient respect for them that they could (maybe) pull one off. So, I’m going to go with their little brother, Kia. Seriously, you can’t go from this to a supercar.
http://image.cdn.ispot.tv/ad/7L_K/2013-kia-soul-hamsters-bright-lights-large-5.jpg
Kia was my first thought as well. In a slightly similar vein, they made a very nice luxury sedan in the K900, but absolutely no one bought them.
I also had Kia on my mind, but I am very reluctant to write them off. They have made unbelievable progress over a generation’s time. Of all the unlikely brands to pull off a supercar, I’d bet my money on the Koreans. 2 ct.
I think they’ll do it … eventually. Also, most likely under the Genesis or another new brand.
That’s what I’m thinking, and why I didn’t write off Hyundai. I think Kia will remain the “value brand” do Hyundai and Genesis.
Ok, that whole mother-and-daughter-and-sister-brand-tentacle-thing might come in the way. But I’d still applaud a smiling a cute supercar, for a change.
I’ll stay in this reply area with a Korean connection. Korea has a local built supercar now. I live in Korea and I have seen one once. It was parked so I was able to check the brand after not knowing what it was. http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/south-korean-supercar-ready
173-493hp options. Covering a lot of ground. Now can you get accredited to direct it through the fabulous mountain passes of Korea, and write about it here?
Very cool!
They were on their way https://d37nk263jfz2p8.cloudfront.net/image/1/700/0/uploads/articles/kia-elan-53f21eaa97ab3.jpg (assuming one considers Lotus a supercar brand).
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–7aCJV1Rj–/18d3mjqqzl0uqjpg.jpg
That is their supercar. You wouldn’t want to go to the end of the driveway in their everyman’s model.
There’s some truth in that. Mine is the big-block 125cc KV Mini 1. Below is the powertrain of the otherwise identically-bodied 49cc KV Gad’Jet. Note the regrettable absence of friction rollers:
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2858/12958224795_4ea779ca23_o.jpg
I was initially dubious of the friction roller concept but the idea has rubbed off on me.
Well there goes half the fun of ownership. I’ll bet you can get those drive belts anywhere.
If by “anywhere” you mean “from one company in Germany that still makes them because that size is also used by certain types of Eastern European agricultural equipment” then yes, I can in fact get them anywhere.
Cars for heads of state qualify as supercars, right?
Cadillac (President of the United States): http://www.rtlnieuws.nl/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_2/public/content/images/2014/03/22/beat%20epa_0.jpg?itok=2deTdy-z
Rolls Royce (Queen of England): http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/7c/95/62/7c95620bc45e8eedcbcb7e4f648c12eb.jpg
DAF (then Crown Princess of the Netherlands): http://oldconceptcars.com/wp-content/uploads/1966_Michelotti_Daf_32_Beach_Car_5.jpg
( http://oldconceptcars.com/1930-2004/daf-kini-1966/ )
http://assets.blog.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads//2011/02/Volvo-Lambo.jpg
You’re probably right, but it’s an old brand going through change. If this could be ‘superfied’? Dunno.
http://www.beyond.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Volvo-Concept-Coupe-C90-550×310.jpg
Dang, that Volvo concept looks awesome!
Weirdly, this is the only brand I genuinely see not being able to do a supercar, and not because of lack of prestige, but it’s the wrong “fit”. True supercars, as opposed to supersports cars (e.g. Porsche 911) are as much, if not more about drama as they are about speed, if pace was what it was about, you;d be going more in the direction of some barely road legal LMP1 type thing. They scream “hey look at me”, if they don’t, not a real supercar. Totally at odds with Volvos current push to being all swedish and respectable and making BMWs look vulgar. Even Kia could pull it off as they’re not above chintzy hip hop video eye candy , but Volvos too introvert.
Skoda – VW had enough trouble trying to go upmarket with the Phaeton, especially when they’re bumping up against Audi, Porsche, Bentley, and Bugatti. The VW brand for the image-agnostic (I just imagine every Skoda driver speaks in Jeremy Clarkson’s adenoid-y voice) could not possibly sustain something so rash and showy as a supercar.
The newest Superb wagon has 280hp and I’ve heard they perform like that also. And with VW-logic experiencing the occasional GM-ish blurb, they might recycle a Lamborghini to czech it out.
Also, VW is actually planning a fully electric new Phaeton:
http://www.volkswagen.de/de/models/informationen-zum-phaeton.html
Surprisingly.
http://www.autohit.cz/files/photo/15168/full_p18t29bjnjepu1dch4rl17l1ma19.jpg
This is true, that VW occasionally operates completely without logic. It’s also true that Skoda does have a bit of sporting heritage. Just, with the current image they’ve cultivated, a full supercar seems like it might be crazier than falsifying emissions tests.
Also SKODA 1100 OHC, not a supercar, more an Abarth style race car, but still very pretty
http://www.autogaleria.hu/autok/skoda/1100-ohc-spider-type-968-1958/skoda_1100-ohc-spider-type-968-1958_r8.jpg
Oh, for sure, I spent about an hour looking at different Skoda race cars (and also the Google Street View of the Skoda Museum), and there’s lots of cool stuff. I just used the 200RS because of its relatively high 250km/h top speed.
I’d love a Rapid coupe it was based on, with an engine upgrade, some folks have stuck Alfa Twin Cams back there. Or perhaps boxers, I’m not sure, the latter would be suitably 912-esque.
Daihatsu.
Maker of competent little cars and wee commercial vehicles — and nothing more. They may have gone racing here and there, but it certainly isn’t the kind of racing from which supercars are born.
Had the Charade 926R (a mid-engine rally missile co-developed with DeTomaso for the under 1,300cc subcategory of Group B) reached production, you might be singing a different tune.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.carthrottle.com/workspace/uploads/memes/tdo8snjjkc1mejkkeetm-5515587b01e0b.jpg
A friend of mine received an ancient, mint Charade, four door with round headlights, from her grandmother while we were students. She once confessed that “only weirdos like [you]” comment on her strange and rare little car. One of the best compliments I received through my entire time as a student.
Jeep.
It might not be a supercar in the traditional sense, but anything that comes out with the 707hp Hellcat mill will certainly have supercar-aping performance!
None couldn’t pull it off. Supercar all the brands.
Yes. Its building an inexpensive and competitive car, SUV or crossover that is hard.
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–ZR222FAt–/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/191hily4o7h0njpg.jpg
Hasn’t stopped them from trying, but the Mopar brands have an awkward problem with crazy cars (Hemis, Hellcats, etc.), but nothing super about them.
Even the Viper tried to eschew the Dodge brand due to the lack of panache. Here we have the Chrysler ME412, because sure, Chrysler Supercar.
They’d have to make a brand specifically for their performance cars and being FCA, that brand already exists.
Per Allpar the ME412 was cancelled because it made Mercedes look bad.
(As if the rest of the
rape and pillage“merger of equals” didn’t make Daimler look bad enough.)http://www.allpar.com/cars/me412.html
Lincoln. Hell, they hardly make cars any more.
Buick. And GMC.
I thought about Buick, but I can almost see GM doing a Buick-ified Corvette (much like the Cadillac XLR). Sure, the XLR was a flop, but that doesn’t always stop The General from trying again.
They would do one as a desperately gorgeous concept car, and then go back to pumping out Encores.
A mid-engined Caballero?
Not totally impossible.
http://media.caranddriver.com/images/media/51/2017-mid-engined-chevrolet-corvette-top-image2-photo-655130-s-original.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm176/andlf/SycloneFerrariSept91_Page_1_Image_0.jpg
Subaru, if only for the fact that it would be directly at odds with the practical, nonthreatening, kumbaya image they’ve managed to cultivate.
I’m not sure the STI gives off any such image either (but nah, not Subaru).
I can see something which is to the SVX as the 22B is to a standard Impreza being made if the Japanese economy had stayed buoyant and the SVX has been more successful. Sort of a Japanese 959…
You don’t think this screams ‘supercar manufacturer’? http://drive2.subaru.com/Spr03/SubaruHistory/CheapUgly.jpg
Perodua?
I was going to say Proton, but they own Lotus and the Europa was almost built in Malaysia and badged as a Proton…
Porsche
[/troll]
A true “supercar” in the McLaren/Bugatti/Ferrari mold? None of the US or Japanese manufacturers. Ford GT is the closest. Corvette and Viper are race cars if enough money is thrown at them, but they are from lesser stock.
Mini, (notwithstanding the Superleggera which at least has the name thing nailed).
http://images.hgmsites.net/hug/mini-superleggera-vision-concept_100468076_h.jpg
If they’d made that, I’d come around and start respecting the new Mini. Would I be alone in that?