World's fastest road cars 2025
Find out everything you need to know about the fastest cars in the world
Top speed is a widely available statistic for just about every road car you can think of, and yet it has very little real-world relevance to most drivers. Even the most humble family cars can easily cruise at 70mph these days, so unless you’re driving on a track or derestricted German autobahn how fast your car goes doesn’t make a lot of difference. For a top performance car, though, there’s another dimension to consider - bragging rights.
Top speed numbers have long been a way for car makers to prove to the world that they can create an engineering and performance marvel. Making a car that’s capable of incredible speeds is a huge technical challenge, and making it road-legal is another step on from that. Building one of the world’s fastest road cars is a great way of getting attention, status and credibility.
The fastest cars in the world started out as racing cars that were driven on the roads, in the early years of Bentley and Bugatti Le Mans entrants, but in the modern era car makers have to create completely different motorsport and road cars. Now, if you want to break into the list of the fastest cars on the road, you’ll need to dedicate a lot of time and money specifically to its development.
Car fans will remember the race to reach 200mph in a road car in the 1990s with the Ferrari F40, Porsche 959, Jaguar XJ220 and finally the McLaren F1 dazzling us with their powerful engines and aerodynamic bodywork. They achieved never-before-seen top speeds from cars with number plates.
Now, makers are battling it out closer to the 300mph mark, but this speed is exponentially more difficult for a normal car to reach. The fact that it’s possible at all is truly impressive, especially for a road-legal car.
The world’s fastest road cars
The list of the fastest road cars in the world is constantly changing as car makers build and test their fastest cars, and technology improvements allow leaps forward in the top speed they can achieve. Here’s the latest list from 20 to 1, avoiding repeats from similar models and heavily modified cars.
20. Pagani Huayra
- Top speed: 238mph
- Price: £1million
The beautifully crafted Pagani Huayra serves up supercar excess in the finest tradition. Lurking beneath the attractive body is a 720bhp twin-turbo Mercedes-AMG V12 that propels the Pagani to 238mph.
The Huayra is constructed from carbon fibre and employs an active aerodynamic system that can adjust the ride height at the front and rear of the car independently – as well as automatically deploying the various wings and spoilers.
19. McLaren F1
- Top speed: 240.1mph
- Price: £15million+
The McLaren F1 hardly needs an introduction for anyone born before the turn of the Century. It set the world record for production cars in 1998 with a top speed of 240.1mph and it did so with a naturally-aspirated V8 engine and a manual gearbox.
There aren’t many cars that can match that for enthusiast appeal apart from perhaps the GMA T50. This is the modern successor to the F1, designed by the same person: Gordon Murray. The man’s latest machine is probably nearly as fast, or faster, than the F1 but no stats will be released, so we’ll never know where it falls on this list.
18. W Motors Fenyr Supersport
- Top speed: 245mph
- Price: £1.4million
First established in Lebanon and now based in Dubai, W Motors followed up its Lykan HyperSport with the Fenyr SuperSport. Both are capable of 245mph, according to the maker.
Power units are sourced from German Porsche tuner Ruf, so there's a twin-turbocharged flat-six mounted behind the cockpit, while bespoke materials including diamonds and sapphires in the headlights are used throughout the car to create a unique machine.
If the HyperSport looks familiar, that's because it's the most expensive car to ever appear in the Fast & Furious movie series, and was the car that crashed between tower blocks in Furious 7.
17. Saleen S7 Twin Turbo
- Top speed: 248mph
- Price: £500,000
The Saleen S7 Twin Turbo arrived in 2005 with 750bhp and a promise of 248mph, beating the iconic McLaren F1’s top speed by 8mph. It was a big claim at the time, as the Saleen didn’t have the weight of McLaren (and BMW, who made that F1’s engine) behind it. It was an all-American monster with a V8 engine and two massive turbos. The claim has never been proven, although some have gotten close.
16. Koenigsegg Gemera & CCXR
- Top speed: 248mph
- Price: £2million
Koenigsegg appears many times on this list so we’ve saved this entry for two models: the Gemera and CCXR. Both top out at 248mph, which is 400km/h, so it’s an appropriate double-appearance for the Swedish brand here.
The Gemera is an ultra-modern hybrid with three electric motors. Incredibly, two of the motors have around 500bhp and the one at the front has around 800bhp, yet there is still also a combustion engine on board as well. The CCXR is a much older car that happens to have the same top speed, using a supercharged V8 engine only - but with a lot less weight and an aerodynamic shape.
15. 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.
14. Ultima RS
- Top speed: 250mph
- Price: £130,000
The Ultima RS is definitely the odd-one-out in this list. Not only is it the cheapest by far at around £130,000, it’s also a kit car. Driving at 250mph - the company’s claim for the fastest model’s top speed - in a car built in your shed at home doesn’t sound real, but it’s possible if you’ve got the cash and skills to do it.
The car uses super light weight and a Corvette engine tuned to produce 1,200bhp rather than fancy tech to achieve that speed, so it’s old-school power-to-weight that puts the Ultima in this list.
13. 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.
12. Czinger 21C V Max
- Top speed: 253mph+
- Price: £1.5million
It might sound like a fast-food meal crossed with a vacuum cleaner, but the Czinger 21C is one of the fastest cars in the world. Like nearly all the cars on this list it uses a hugely powerful engine and slippery bodywork, along with some electric motors that combine for a total of 1,233bhp.
It deals with 0-62mph in just 1.9 seconds thanks to four-wheel drive, and the V Max model does away with drag-inducing aero kit to increase the top speed even further from the normal version up to over 250mph.
11. 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.
10. SSC Ultimate Aero
- Top speed: 256.18mph
- Price: £500,000
The SSC Ultimate Aero is powered by a 1,183bhp twin-turbo V8 petrol engine and during its seven-year production run, it managed to steal the fastest car title from the Bugatti Veyron with a top speed run of 256.18mph.
This figure was achieved on a public road, with the car maker using a temporarily closed two-lane highway near its factory in Washington, USA. A wild ride, the Ultimate Aero did away with driver aides like traction control for an incredibly raw experience.
9. Rimac Nevera/Nevera R
- Top speed: 258mph/268mph
- 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 world’s fastest car top spot outright.
With 1,888bhp and 2,360Nm of torque, the Nevera is already incredibly fast, 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.
Not satisfied, Rimac recently released the Nevera R with 2,078bhp and a top speed of 268mph. Not only is it one of the fastest cars overall, it’s also the fastest-accelerating road car ever, offering 0-62mph in 1.8 seconds and hitting 186mph in a simply crazy 7.9 seconds.
8. 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.
7. 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.
6. Bugatti Tourbillon
- Top speed: 277mph (est)
- Price: £3.5million+ (est)
There’s a place reserved on this list for the new Bugatti Tourbillon, which will use a hybrid system incorporating a 986bhp and 664 lb-ft V16 engine for a total of over 1,770bhp. Given the brand’s reputation for making the fastest cars in the world along with all the engineering knowhow that comes with it, we’re confident the new model will find a place among the other cars here when it arrives in 2026.
5. Koenigsegg Agera RS
- Top speed: 277.87mph
- Price: £3.5million
Koenigsegg upped the ante in 2017 by increasing the speed record even further from the CCXR above, while simultaneously recording the highest speed ever achieved on a public road. Using a closed 11-mile stretch of highway in Nevada, USA, the Swedish hypercar maker ran a customer-owned Agera R to a speed of 277.87mph.
4. Bugatti Mistral
- Top Speed: 282.05mph
- Price: £11.6million
Bugatti might have 115 years of illustrious history, but the French brand is still creating plenty of headlines – 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.
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 prove the car never went as fast as SSC said it did.
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 Koenigsegg 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
- Pagani Huayra
- McLaren F1
- W Motors Fenyr Supersport
- Koenigsegg Gemera & CCXR
- Aspark Owl
- Ultima RS
- Saleen S7
- McLaren Speedtail
- Czinger 21C V Max
- Koenigsegg Regera
- SSC Ultimate Aero
- Rimac Nevera/Nevera R
- Bugatti Veyron
- Hennessey Venom F5
- Bugatti Tourbillon
- Koenigsegg Agera RS
- Bugatti Mistral
- SSC Tuatara
- Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+
- Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut
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.
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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