World's fastest road cars 2025
Find out everything you need to know about the fastest road cars ever built
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that there were only a couple of cars in the entire world that could blast through the 200mph top speed barrier, but thanks to ultra-high-end hypercar brands such as Bugatti and Koenigsegg that figure isn’t much to write home about in 2025. There are now many cars that can smash past the ‘double ton’ and we’re well into the era of the 300mph hypercar, with the fastest road cars able to pass that incredible mark.
The ‘triple ton’ is an astonishing achievement and it comes largely thanks to huge advancements in electrification technology for performance cars. We’re in an interesting period right now, where the list of the top ten fastest cars in the world contains a mix of combustion-engined cars, hybrid cars and fully electric cars. And it’s not just fixed-roof hypercars, either, with convertibles also making their presence felt.
Reaching 200mph, let alone 300mph, requires far more development and engineering than goes into a normal road car, which is why there isn’t a single car on our fastest cars countdown below that costs less than £1million. All are road cars, which means they can legally be driven on public roads; while there are faster cars out there, they’re for track day use only.
The world’s fastest road cars
There can only be one victor in the battle for the title of ‘fastest road car’, though, so read on to see the top 10 quickest models in reverse order.
10. Aspark Owl
- Top speed: 249mph
- Price: £2.5million
While you'd expect to see names like McLaren and Koenigsegg on a list of the world's fastest road cars, this increasingly niche genre is also the stomping ground for fledgling brands looking to create small numbers of hand-built hypercars. The Japanese Aspark Owl is one such example.
First seen in prototype form at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Owl is another battery-electric model with big on-paper figures. For a start, it's claimed to launch from 0-60mph in 1.72 seconds, which would make it the fastest accelerating production car.
Aspark also quotes the 1,985bhp Owl’s top speed as 249mph. Its blistering acceleration is helped by a relatively light 64kWh battery pack, which is smaller than most rivals’. but should still give the slippery Owl a range of around 280 miles.
9. McLaren Speedtail
- Top speed: 250mph
- Price: £2.1million
According to the British supercar brand, the McLaren Speedtail hit 250mph more than 30 times during evaluation runs at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA.
This means the Speedtail is faster than the legendary McLaren F1, although both are equally rare as the brand has limited the Speedtail to only 106 examples - the same number as its illustrious predecessor.
A part of McLaren's 'Ultimate Series' of models, the Speedtail also shares the F1's three-seater layout, with the driver sitting in the middle of the car, flanked by two passengers. Unlike the older model, the twin-clutch Speedtail has no gearlever, making it easier to get in via either side.
8. Koenigsegg Regera
- Top speed: 255mph
- Price: £2.6million
Koenigsegg has a fixation with the road car top speed record and the Swedish maker’s Regera isn’t even the brand’s fastest model. It can hit 255mph thanks to a hybrid powertrain with just under 1,500bhp. It uses an innovative single-speed gearbox instead of a normal transmission, made possible thanks to the plug-in hybrid set-up.
Of course there’s still a twin-turbo V8 engine on board that provides a lot of the power, and while it looks like a coupe it actually has a removable targa-top roof. The car also set a 0–249–0mph world record for acceleration and braking in 2019.
7. Rimac Nevera
- Top speed: 258mph
- Price: £2.4million
The Rimac Nevera is the fifth-fastest car in the world, and also has the distinction of being the world's fastest electric hypercar. Such is the ferocity of the EV power wars, it seems like only a matter of time until an electric car takes the top spot outright.
With 1,888bhp and 2,360Nm of torque, the Nevera is already the most powerful model in the top five, rocketing from 0-60mph in 1.9 seconds despite being a relative heavyweight. It can carry on to 186mph in an astonishing 9.3 seconds - more quickly than most family cars get to 60mph
Capable of charging at up to 500kW, the Nevera isn't just fast on the road, its battery can also be topped up to 80 per cent in just 19 minutes, and when full it has a 340-mile range.
6. Bugatti Veyron
- Top speed: 268mph
- Price: £1million
It’s been an alarmingly long time since the Bugatti Veyron arrived on the hypercar scene, but this is a name that still carries a phenomenal amount of respect and admiration from petrolheads and engineers of all ages and backgrounds.
While the regular Veyron already sent shockwaves through the automotive world with nearly 1,000bhp and 1,500Nm of torque on tap from its mighty 6.0-litre, quad-turbo W12 engine, this still wasn’t enough to satiate Bugatti’s boffins. A few years later, the truly bonkers Veyron Super Sport made its debut, and this upped the power even further to 1,183bhp.
Many years later and still there are very few cars that have managed to top the Veyron Super Sport’s 268mph top speed. This behemoth’s sub-2.5 second 0-62mph time is a feat that even electric cars struggle to match as well. In other words, this car is easily still one of the all-time greats.
5. Hennessey Venom F5
- Top speed: 271.6mph
- Price: £1.7million
American tuning firm turned hypercar-builder Hennessey already topped 270mph with its Lotus Exige-based Venom, but the Venom F5 has now breezed past that speed.
In fact, it’s already gone faster in testing, hitting 271.6mph at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds in Florida. It should come as no surprise, given that the old Venom had just 1,244bhp, while the newcomer packs a massive 1,817bhp from its twin-turbo V8. It’s clear Hennessey is aiming to reach 311mph when the car is fully developed.
With rear-wheel drive, the limited traction no doubt hampers the F5’s 2.6-second 0-62mph time, but a 0-249mph acceleration figure of 15.5 seconds shows just how incredible the Hennessey’s straight-line speed is once it gets into its stride.
4. Bugatti Mistral
- Top Speed: 282.05mph
- Price: £11.6million
Bugatti might have 115 years of illustrious history, but the French brand has created plenty of headlines in the past two decades in particular – most recently with the Bugatti Mistral. Even for a Bugatti it is obscenely expensive and incredibly rare, having been limited to just 99 units, but simply put, the Mistral is the fastest convertible in production.
With none other than esteemed test driver Andy Wallace at the helm, the Mistral made its record-breaking run at a test facility in Papenburg, Germany in 2024. Powering the car to 282.05mph is Bugatti’s famed quad-turbocharged, eight-litre W16 – which will soon be displaced for the new Tourbillon's incredible naturally-aspirated V16 unit.
Given third spot in our countdown is less than 1mph away, we wonder if Bugatti will have another crack at the Mistral’s top speed in the hope of raising it further.
3. SSC Tuatara
- Top speed: 282.9mph
- Price: £1.5million
Record speeds tend to court controversy, and American tuners SSC set the Internet ablaze when the Tuatara hypercar's alleged 316mph high-speed run was called into question. Video footage of the Nevada highway attempt was claimed to show the car never went as fast as claimed.
In 2021, SSC made another record speed attempt with more accurate timing equipment and independent witnesses to set the record straight, recording a two-way average of 282.9mph. Not quite beyond the 300mph barrier, but mighty impressive all the same.
The Tuatara certainly has plenty of power, thanks to a 5.9-litre flat-plane-crank V8 with twin turbochargers that produces 1,750bhp and 1,735Nm of torque. Unlike most cars on this list, all this power is sent to the rear wheels only. This, allied to the carbon fibre chassis and bodywork, keeps weight down to just 1,247kg.
2. Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+
- Top speed: 304.8mph
- Price: £3million
Ever since it became the jewel in the Volkswagen Group's crown, Bugatti has become synonymous with power and straight-line speed. The development of the Veyron and Chiron all led up to the creation of the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, which smashed all the marque's previous records and pushed through the seemingly impenetrable 300mph barrier.
To achieve this feat, Bugatti's 8.0-litre W16 engine was tuned to create 1,578bhp - 99bhp more than the standard Chiron. It also gained extra cooling for its engine and gearbox, along with a host of software changes. Aerodynamic upgrades were just as critical to its high-speed run, too, most notably a 'Longtail' rear end that added 25cm of bodywork to smooth its airflow.
The ‘enhanced’ Chiron Super Sport 300+ hit 304.774mph at the Ehra-Lessien test track in Germany, and 30 vehicles were built at Bugatti's Molsheim facility for privileged customers, costing £3 million each.
1. Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut
- Top speed: 310mph (targeted)
- Price: £2.3million (approx.)
Koenigsegg is far from inexperienced when it comes to building Bugatti-worrying hypercars, so when Christian Von Koengisegg himself announced that the brand was working on “the absolute fastest Koenigsegg we will ever make”, this was not a statement to be taken lightly.
The car in question is the Jesko Absolut, a low-drag variant of the 1,578bhp Jesko. The standard car is far from sluggish, but the Swedish brand's engineers have spent a significant amount of time making painstaking adjustments to further improve the car’s drag coefficient and power output.
These measures include an extended body, the removal of the rear wing, and increased weight-reduction measures - including what Koenigsegg claims to be the world’s lightest crankshaft. The ferocious 5.0-litre turbocharged V8 has also been tweaked for a slight power increase to 1,600bhp.
Official figures are yet to be released, but the brand’s target is a top speed of 310mph. While this may initially sound rather far-fetched, Koenigsegg is a previous ‘world’s fastest car’ title holder, so the determination to beat long-time rival Bugatti will be very high.
World’s fastest road cars
- Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut
- Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+
- SSC Tuatara
- Bugatti Mistral
- Hennessey Venom F5
- Rimac Nevera
- Koenigsegg Regera
- McLaren Speedtail
- Aspark Owl
- W Motors Fenyr Supersport
World’s fastest road cars: 200mph options
The fastest cars on this list are expensive, with seven-figure sums required to buy most of them and plenty to be put aside for everyday running costs, too. However, access to a production car that can go faster than 200mph is easier than it's ever been. You'll still need a decent amount of cash to buy one, but with more makers offering 200mph cars than ever, there are lots of options if you're in the lucky position to be buying.
There are a number Brits that break into the club, including the Aston Martin DB11 V12, Aston Martin DBS and a number of McLarens.
There are even a few convertibles capable of more than 200mph, although they achieve this with the roof up. The Lamborghini Huracan Evo Spyder (201mph) and Ferrari 296 GTS (205mph+) are two drop-top versions of even faster coupes.
If you desire a rapid luxury car, another option is a grand tourer. These cars achieve high speeds without cutting back on the extravagance, and it's the Brits that again lead the way. Bentley offers the incredible four-door Flying Spur (207mph), while the Bentley Continental GT Speed manages 208mph.
Naturally, a large chunk of the 200mph club is made up of two-seater supercars. Models such as the Maserati MC20, Audi R8 V10 and Ferrari 296 GTB all exceed this benchmark while providing plenty of driver engagement. There’s even the option of a plug-in hybrid, with the Ferrari SF90 reaching 211mph.
You might be reading this list and thinking there are some other big names missing. There are lots of high-end hypercars that don’t prioritise top speed in the way that you need to when aiming to pass 250mph. The astonishing Mercedes-AMG One (217mph+) and Aston Martin Valkyrie are designed to deliver the ultimate in lap times rather than out right top speeds and the same goes for Porsche’s more affordable but still formidable 911 GT2 RS.
World’s fastest cars: a history
The world’s first recognised car, the Benz Patent Motorwagen built in 1898, opens our list with a top speed of 12mph. Little more than half a century later, in 1949, Jaguar had raised these stakes by a factor of ten, with the Jaguar XK120.
The fifties were a hard-fought battle between Mercedes 300SL Gullwing and the Aston Martin DB4 GT, both of which were capable of speeds in excess of 150mph. The sixties followed, and with them a flurry of title changes between a range of Italian marques. The Iso Grifo set the tone in 1963, with a 161mph top speed.
A newcomer, the Anglo-American-built AC Cobra briefly stole the crown in 1965, only to be subsequently beaten by the Lamborghini Miura, the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 and the Miura P400S between 1967 and 1969.
Thirteen years passed before Lamborghini managed to top its own record with the Countach, marking the first production car to pass the 180mph barrier. In 1983, German Porsche tuner RUF offered the 190mph BTR, while Porsche’s own supercar, the 959, hit 198mph in 1986.
Ferrari built the world’s first production car to pass the 200mph barrier in 1987, with the 472bhp F40. Once the nineties rolled around, the McLaren F1 upped the stakes again with a top speed of 221mph, although F1s without rev-limiters have clocked 240mph runs. To this day, the McLaren F1 remains the fastest naturally aspirated car ever built.
The Koenigsegg CCR’s short-lived time as the fastest production car in the world began in February 2005, where it reached 241mph at Italy’s Nardo Ring. Just two months later the Bugatti Veyron broke through the 250mph barrier and took the crown with a speed of 253.8mph.
Over the last few years, Bugatti and Koenigsegg have been contending for the top spot with a range of lesser-known challengers such as the American supercar manufacturers, SSC and Hennessey.
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