5 Ambitious Supercars That Turned Out To Be Complete BS

It seems like every few months we hear some kind of ludicrous claim about speed or efficiency or both from an overly ambitious new automaker. Here are some of the most notorious examples of start-up supercars that ended up being vapourware...
5 Ambitious Supercars That Turned Out To Be Complete BS

Trident Iceni

5 Ambitious Supercars That Turned Out To Be Complete BS

The idea of a supercar with supermini efficiency sounds too good to be true, and if the Trident Iceni is anything to go by, it is. It burst onto the scene in 2014, claiming to be capable of a 190mph top speed and hitting 60mph in 3.7 seconds, largely thanks to the fact it utilised ‘torque multiplication.’

Intriguingly, it used the 6.6-litre diesel V8 from a Chevrolet Silverado, and the special gearbox meant it could cruise at 70mph at just 980rpm while always offering 700lb ft of torque. Unfortunately, despite a handful of motor show appearances and a couple of journalists getting a drive of prototypes - we actually had a drive penciled in before our phone calls and emails started being ignored - the Iceni never went anywhere.

Remote video URL

It’s arguably the most famous - or rather infamous - example of automotive vapourware in recent years, thanks to its 5000bhp claims. Incredibly, its mid-mounted, quad-turbo, 12.3-litre V16 does appear to exist, but the same can’t really be said about the rest of the car.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Dubai-based company can produce a car that doesn’t fall apart on motor show stands (skip to the one minute mark in the video above), and can actually put that power onto the road in any usable way. Our money’s on this car never making it past the prototype phase…

Melling Hellcat

5 Ambitious Supercars That Turned Out To Be Complete BS

Al Melling looks like the eccentric automotive descendant of Albert Einstein, and his history in the world of engines is impressive without being earth shattering. He’s worked in Formula One, and some of his engine design work ultimately ended up being used in Aston Martin V12s. He was also involved in a failed bid to purchase Rolls-Royce and Bentley (his consortium was beaten by BMW and VW). He had more success building engines for Jaguar’s Le Mans effort, as well as the TVR Speed Six engine.

He’d always dreamed of having his own car compete at Le Mans, though, and so the Hellcat project was born. It claimed to have a 0-62mph time of 2.6 seconds and a top speed of 270mph, courtesy of a Melling-built quad-turbo V10 making 1175bhp - this was around 2006, remember, when that sort of figure was even more ludicrous than it is today.

Melling claimed that within about three years of development, the Hellcat would be competing at Le Mans, with it being capable of winning by its second year of competition. It never made it to the track. Brilliantly, the file name of the image above, which is on Melling’s website, includes a typo that calls it the ‘wastest’ car in the world. Apt.

Vector WX8

5 Ambitious Supercars That Turned Out To Be Complete BS

Vector just about hovered between complete and utter fakery and legitimate car manufacturer its whole life. It had numerous models and prototypes, and some cars even made it to customers, though Road&Track reported that fit and finish of the W8 model (of which 17 were delivered to customers) varied massively between each car.

This all culminated in the WX8. According to the utterly fantastic official website, its 10.0-litre V8 makes 2000bhp, and it would be “the only car in the world to incorporate Marine, Aviation, and Aerospace technology into its design and construction.” When a company makes wild, unsubstantiated claims like that, you know it’s probably talking rubbish.

Arash AF10

5 Ambitious Supercars That Turned Out To Be Complete BS

Like Vector, Arash has been around making cars for years now, but it seems pretty hard to nail down a lot of proof that a decent number ever actually make it out on to the road. Sure, there are working prototypes and models that go on display at motor shows, but does anyone actually have an AF8 in their garage? In fact, we were told by the owner that the company only sold one of its AF8s last year.

So when it announced it was building a new 2080bhp hypercar with a 6.2-litre supercharged V8 and four electric motors, we were a little skeptical. The Arash cars website describes the car as ‘naughty’, while the drivetrain is referred to as a ‘warp drive.’ We’d love to get behind the wheel of the ludicrous AF10, but having seen the fit and finish of the Geneva motor show example, we have our doubts that this will make it to production - at least not in its claimed form.

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Comments

kieran 1

Havent laughed that good for a while

04/26/2016 - 15:05 |
12 | 2
Anonymous

The melling hellcat has A nissan GTR roof top and 350z front and moree nissan’s

04/26/2016 - 15:05 |
162 | 4
Dan Shariff

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

There is no 350z in there at all

04/26/2016 - 15:27 |
4 | 60
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Looks more like a modern 2000GT concept than anything else, especially the roofline

04/26/2016 - 23:15 |
2 | 0
495QED

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Somehow the front reminds me of the Velierer on GTA5, which reminded me of the TVR Sagaris and T350

04/26/2016 - 23:54 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Yup you’re right

04/28/2016 - 02:05 |
0 | 0
🎺🎺thank mr skeltal

I really hope the Melling Hellcat will sooner or later make it into production. Such a good looking car.

04/26/2016 - 15:06 |
8 | 4
Anurag Bagchi

The melling hellcat looks so horrible

04/26/2016 - 15:08 |
16 | 0
Anonymous

wtf is a quad-trubo? Is that some kind of a moddification or something? Cuz it sounds interesting…..

04/26/2016 - 15:10 |
112 | 12
Igor Konuhov

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

It means “four turbochargers”

04/26/2016 - 15:13 |
18 | 54
nismo9132

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

04/26/2016 - 15:13 |
156 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

trubos are like turbos but 69 time more powerful

04/26/2016 - 15:13 |
90 | 0
Petrosexual

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

4 turbos

04/26/2016 - 15:16 |
12 | 46
Dat muscle guy (Sam Stone)(Camaro Squad)(Die augen leader)(E

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Maybe triple turbo in one hence the name 3x1x4+10+4=Alluminerti

04/26/2016 - 16:00 |
22 | 4
Hoang Huynh

Did anyone else read the title as “5 AMPHIBIOUS supercars”??

04/26/2016 - 15:11 |
20 | 2

nope

04/26/2016 - 15:13 |
8 | 4

i was eagerly awaiting 5 boatmobiles

04/26/2016 - 19:55 |
10 | 0
Michael R. T. Jensen

I’d love to see as many of these make it into production as possible. A lot of the current super car manufacturers are getting boring and repetitive. McLaren is a good example, with its many similar models.

04/26/2016 - 15:16 |
38 | 2

But they would probably just make like 20 of each model and prices would be so high that Only very very very rich people could buy them. Then they would storage them in private garages and never even drive them on public streets. So what’s the point in making them?

04/26/2016 - 15:28 |
8 | 4
Anonymous

You forgot the Syrma IED

04/26/2016 - 15:19 |
18 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Improvised Explosive Device?

04/26/2016 - 15:26 |
70 | 0
DeLeon

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I thought it was just a concept

04/26/2016 - 15:50 |
0 | 4
Anonymous

It just looks so ridiculous I have nothing to say

04/26/2016 - 15:37 |
86 | 2
Sergeant_Cirrus

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

The way they composed and edited that pic reminds me so much of Need for Speed 3 Hot Pursuit

04/26/2016 - 18:25 |
104 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I almost fell of my chair when I saw that. What a joke! Who designed that? A 6 year old?

04/26/2016 - 18:41 |
40 | 0
Anonymous

On the Melling’s website it says they have a video showing that it can reach over 490 kmh, and would you guess it, the video is from a video game. clap clap clap

04/26/2016 - 15:38 |
14 | 0