6 Fastest Cars in the World Right Now

A car is so much more than a number, yet we can’t resist the urge to brag or judge another’s wheels based on specifications only. Yours has a 180-horsepower engine? Mine has 250. It’s understandable because it’s not as easy to put into words the feeling of steering, braking, or any of the other subjective measures that we continue to brag about (even if we don’t know exactly what they mean). Numbers are just cleaner.

Common performance benchmarks include price, horsepower, 0 to 60 mph time, cornering G-force, and — weightiest of all — top speed. Whether you will ever have the opportunity to experience a car at its V-Max is unlikely, and yet, inconsequential. Potential is all that matters.

With that in mind, these are the fastest cars in the world according to claimed or proven top speed. As a bonus, we’ve tacked on a couple of cars that would set records if they hit the production line. We’ve excluded purely concept or custom vehicle projects to keep things simple.

Some brands have a monopoly on speed, while others have only contributed one-hit wonders. However they got here, these automakers did something very right.

World’s Fastest Cars

Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+: 304 mph
Hennessey Venom F5: 301 mph*
SSC Tuatara: 300+ mph*
Koenigsegg Agera RS: 278 mph
Hennessey Venom GT: 270 mph
Bugatti Veyron Super Sport: 268 mph

Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+: 304 mph

In August 2019, Bugatti topped the formerly reigning Hennessey Venom F5. Not only that, but the Chiron Super Sport 300+ also became the first car to break 300 miles per hour on the track. The final record was 304.773 mph with racecar driver Andy Wallace on Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track in Germany. If that’s hard to comprehend, that’s because it is. Imagine being able to cover 450 feet in a single second.

Bugatti holds the crown for now, but the manufacturer may bow out of the race. “We have shown several times that we build the fastest cars in the world. In [the] future we will focus on other areas,” the manufacturer said in a statement. Only 30 of these 8-liter engines will be produced.

Hennessey Venom F5: 301 mph (Claimed)

Hennessey Performance Engineering previously owned the top spot of this list with its Venom F5. The successor to the record-setting Venom GT, the F5 has a theoretical and claimed top speed of 301 mph, besting the next fastest car by a solid margin.

The Venom F5 utilizes a carbon fiber chassis and is powered by a 7.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 good for 1,600 horsepower. While Hennessey has yet to legitimize its claims, the F5 will reportedly dash from 0 to 249 mph and back to 0 in less than 30 seconds. That’s about how long it takes a mild sports car just to get from 0 to 100 mph.

SSC Tuatara: 300+ mph (Claimed)

It’s been years since we heard from SSC, when the American specialty vehicle manufacturer announced a successor to its Ultimate Aero hypercar. At the time, SSC claimed the upcoming Tuatara would hit 265 mph, but when the company revealed its production-intent model at this year’s Concours d’Elegance, the figure in question had risen to 300 mph.

Derived from a Nelson Racing Engines’ twin-turbocharged V-8, the Tuatara’s 5.9-liter flat-plane crank engine is capable of 1,750 horsepower when it runs E85 fuel. Power is routed to the rear wheels via a seven-speed automated manual gearbox. This much power combined with the car’s aero-optimized body should get SSC into the history books, although Hennessey hit the 300 mph milestone first.

Koenigsegg Agera RS: 278 mph

If you’re only interested in proven claims, then the world’s fastest cars list officially starts here with the Koenigsegg Agera RS. While Hennessey’s Venom F5 claims it can do over 300 mph, Koenigsegg has actually demonstrated its Agera RS can put down an average top speed of 278 mph. How did the Swedish automaker earn its stripes?

On November 4, 2017, the Nevada Department of Transportation closed an 11-mile stretch of road just outside Las Vegas. Koenigsegg turned up with a customer-owned Agera RS and Koenigsegg factory driver Niklas Lilja put down two high-speed runs (in opposing directions). The average pace (including one run at 285 mph) was recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Hennessey Venom GT: 270 mph

When Koenigsegg set a new official top speed record, Hennessey forfeited the title. The Hennessey Venom GT came out of nowhere to topple the mighty Bugatti Veyron. In 2014, Hennessey revealed a Lotus-based Frankenstein supercar with a 7.0-liter twin-turbo V8 and 1,244 horsepower. Until that moment, the Texas-based tuner had merely modified performance cars, but this was the company’s first standalone build.

With approval from the Kennedy Space Center, Hennessey recorded a top speed of 270.4 mph. Though the Guinness Book of World Records approved the run, it has received a fair bit of criticism. For one, most top speed records are taken from an average of two runs in opposite directions (like Koenigsegg did with the Agera RS). Also, the Venom GT is a hand-built, low-production vehicle. Some have questioned whether it deserves to be counted among series production cars.

Bugatti Veyron Super Sport: 268 mph

Before Hennessey and Koenigsegg jumped into the top speed fray, Bugatti dominated the world’s fastest category. Unlike its upstart rivals, Bugatti benefitted from the massive cash reserves of its parent company, Volkswagen. A tremendous investment of time and resources yielded the Bugatti Veyron in 2005. The $1.7-million Veyron utilized a quad-turbocharged, W16 engine to deliver 1,001 horsepower to all four wheels.

Impressive as it was, the 250-mph Veyron was soon trumped by the 256-mph SSC Ultimate Aero. Bugatti went back to the drawing board and returned with the Veyron Super Sport. An impressive 1,200 horsepower and a slew of aerodynamic improvements helped the Super Sport to a top speed of 268 mph, clocked at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessein test track. Bugatti also developed a convertible version, dubbed the Grand Sport Vitesse, which still holds the record for the fastest open-top production car at 254 mph.

Bonus: Concept or Near-Production Cars

Koenigsegg Jesko: 300+ (Claimed)

The Koenigsegg Jesko making its debut at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show.Koenigsegg

Though the Koenigsegg Agera RS takes the top spot in terms of the fastest car on Earth, the carmaker isn’t resting on its laurels. Teased well-ahead of its 2019 Geneva Motor Show debut, Koenigsegg finally let slip what it has been working on: The Koenigsegg Jesko, the Agera RS replacement. The V8 engine and nine-speed transmission (dubbed the Koenigsegg Light Speed Transmission) promise up to 1600 horsepower (with biofuel — otherwise we’re looking at 1280 horsepower) and a top speed over 300 miles per hour.

Dagger GT: 315 mph (Claimed)

Back in 2012, American automotive startup TransStar Racing released plans for a production supercar that would make up to 2,000 horsepower, do 0-60 mph in less than 2.0 seconds, and top out at 315 mph. TranStar has been awfully quiet the last couple years, suggesting the Dagger GT may never reach production, but someone keeps paying hosting fees for a dedicated website, so who knows?

Devel Sixteen: 320 mph (Claimed)

Of all the ridiculous cars on this list, nothing comes even remotely close to the Devel Sixteen. Introduced at the 2013 Dubai Motor Show, the supercar uses a quad-turbo V16 to produce 5,007 horsepower. Five thousand horsepower, people! Top speed claims have ranged from 320 to 350 mph, but any way you slice it, a production version of this car would shatter all records. Like TranStar, we haven’t heard much from Devel in a few years, so it could all be vaporware. (More) time will tell. But rumor has it that a production version has found its way into the hands of Drake.

Article originally published by Miles Branman on April 12, 2018. Last updated by Nicole Raney

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