SSC North America is the ultimate underdog story. Founded by Jerod Shelby in Washington State, this boutique manufacturer exists to humble billion-dollar European giants. From the Veyron-beating Ultimate Aero to the 1,750-hp Tuatara, SSC builds the fastest production cars on Earth, proving that American engineering needs no translation.
Explore the current production vehicles.
The current king of speed and the ultimate pursuit of velocity. The Tuatara is a masterpiece of American engineering, a 1,750-hp, twin-turbo V8 hypercar that holds the official world record for the fastest production car. A legend in its own time.
The high-downforce, track-focused evolution of the Tuatara. The Striker is engineered for cornering dominance, featuring a radical aerodynamics package that triples the downforce of the standard car, creating a road-legal weapon built for lap times.
The untamed, track-only beast. The Aggressor is a no-rules version of the Tuatara, offering its owners a customizable experience with options for a 2,200-hp upgrade and a brutal, competition-spec exhaust. The ultimate, unleashed expression of SSC's power.
The car that shocked the world and put America back on top. The Ultimate Aero TT was a raw, twin-turbo V8 beast that officially dethroned the Bugatti Veyron to become the Guinness World Record holder for the fastest production car. A legend of pure, untamed power.
The genesis of the giant-killer. The original Aero was the car that started it all, a bold statement from a small American company with a huge dream. It introduced the world to SSC's vision of raw, supercharged V8 power and laid the groundwork for the record-breaking Ultimate Aero.
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In the rarefied air of the hypercar world, names like Bugatti, Koenigsegg, and Pagani reign supreme. They have heritage, massive budgets, and armies of engineers. Then, there is a guy named Jerod Shelby in Richland, Washington, working out of a glorified hangar, who looked at the speedometer of a Bugatti Veyron and said, "We can beat that." SSC North America (formerly Shelby SuperCars) is the David to the industry's Goliaths. They don't build luxury tourers; they build land-based missiles designed to alter the rotation of the earth.
Letâs get the disclaimer out of the way immediately: Jerod Shelby is not related to Carroll Shelby.
But the coincidence is almost poetic. Like Carroll, Jerod is an American obsessed with speed who took on the European establishment. SSC is a boutique operation. They don't have a test track in Germany or a wind tunnel in Maranello. They use closed highways in Nevada and runways at the Kennedy Space Center. This "garage builder" ethos makes their achievements even more terrifyingly impressive.
In 2007, the automotive world was bowing down to the Bugatti Veyron. It seemed unbeatable.
Then, SSC rolled out the Ultimate Aero TT. It looked like a doorstop. It had no traction control. It had no ABS. It was powered by a Twin-Turbo Chevrolet V8 making 1,183 horsepower.
On a closed stretch of Highway 221 in Washington, it averaged 256.18 mph, officially stealing the Guinness World Record from Bugatti. It was a shock to the system. A car built in America, costing a fraction of the Veyron, had dethroned the king. It put SSC on the map forever.
After the Aero, SSC went quiet for a decade to develop its successor: the Tuatara (named after a New Zealand reptile with the fastest molecular evolution of any living animal).
Designed by Jason Castriota (who penned the Ferrari 599), the Tuatara is an aerodynamic masterpiece with a drag coefficient of just 0.279. Unlike the brutalist Aero, the Tuatara is beautiful. It looks like a fighter jet wrapped in shrink wrap.
The heart of the Tuatara is a bespoke 5.9L Twin-Turbo V8 developed in collaboration with Tom Nelson of Nelson Racing Engines.
The Stats:
This isn't a lazy truck engine. It is a flat-plane-crank-style screamer (though technically a cross-plane with unique firing order) that sounds like a chainsaw tearing through the fabric of reality. It sends all that power to the rear wheels via a CIMA 7-speed automated manual transmission that shifts in under 100 milliseconds.
SSCâs history includes a chapter of drama that would make a Netflix documentary.
In October 2020, SSC claimed the Tuatara hit 331 mph on a Nevada highway. The internetâspecifically YouTubers and math nerdsâanalyzed the footage and found discrepancies. The speed didn't match the GPS data.
Instead of hiding, Jerod Shelby did something rare: He apologized. He admitted the data was messy and the video was flawed. He promised to re-run the car.
The Redemption: In January 2021, at the Kennedy Space Center, with independent redundant GPS verification (Racelogic, Garmin, LifeRacing), the Tuatara hit a two-way average of 282.9 mph. later improving to 295 mph in 2022. While it wasn't 331, it was undeniably faster than the Koenigsegg Agera RS. It proved the car was real, erasing the doubt and cementing SSCâs integrity.
Because 1,750 hp is apparently "not enough" for some people, SSC introduced two new trims.
The Striker: Focuses on downforce. It has a massive rear wing, dive planes, and a diffuser that generates 1,100 lbs of downforce at 160 mph. It is designed for track lap times, not just top speed.
The Aggressor: This is the track-only psychopath. It is not street legal. It has a stripped interior and an upgraded engine option that pushes power to 2,200 horsepower. It is essentially a rolling suicide note for the untrained driver.
Driving an SSC is not like driving a Bugatti Chiron. A Chiron is insulated, heavy, and stableâyou can do 200 mph with one hand on the wheel.
An SSC Tuatara is visceral. It weighs nearly 1,500 lbs less than a Chiron. It is rear-wheel drive. When the turbos spool, the acceleration is violent. It requires respect. It connects the driver to the road in a way that modern computerized hypercars have forgotten. It is the spiritual successor to the analog supercars of the 90s, just with double the horsepower.
You respect SSC because they are the ultimate expression of American ambition. They don't have a parent company like VW or Rimac to bail them out. Every car they sell funds the next one.
Owning an SSC is a statement that you value raw potential over brand heritage. It is for the collector who wants the absolute peak of internal combustion performance before the world goes silent and electric.
SSC North America is a miracle of the automotive world. They survived the financial crisis, they survived a PR nightmare, and they emerged with the fastest production car on the planet. The Tuatara is a technological marvel that proves you don't need a billion dollars to break the laws of physics; you just need a hangar in Washington and the will to go faster than anyone else.
No, there is no relation. This is a common misconception.
SSC (formerly Shelby SuperCars) was founded by Jerod Shelby, who is not related to the legendary Carroll Shelby (of Cobra and Mustang fame). To avoid confusion, the company officially rebranded to SSC North America. They are distinct entities with different headquarters and engineering philosophies.
The SSC Tuatara is one of the fastest production cars on the planet. In a verified run at the Kennedy Space Center in 2021, it achieved a two-way average speed of 282.9 mph, with a peak speed of 295 mph logged in later testing.
While early claims of 331 mph were disputed and retracted, the vehicle has solidified its place as a legitimate contender for the "world's fastest" title through transparent, third-party validated runs.
The heart of the Tuatara is a bespoke engineering masterpiece developed in collaboration with Nelson Racing Engines.
It is a 5.9-liter Twin-Turbo V8 with a flat-plane crank. The dual-fuel capability is key to its performance: it produces 1,350 horsepower on standard 91-octane pump gas, but jumps to a massive 1,750 horsepower when running on E85 ethanol.
The Ultimate Aero is the car that put SSC on the map. In 2007, it famously broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest production car, hitting 256.14 mph.
This was significant because it dethroned the Bugatti Veyron, proving that a small American manufacturer from Washington state could beat the might of the Volkswagen Group. It remains a legendary analog supercar, lacking the modern driver aids of today's hypercars.
SSC North America is proud to be the only American hypercar manufacturer with a production facility in the Pacific Northwest.
The vehicles are designed and hand-assembled in Richland, Washington. This sets them apart from the traditional automotive hubs of Detroit or the tuning culture of Southern California.
SSC expanded the Tuatara lineup with two track-focused variants:
The car is named after a reptile native to New Zealand. The Tuatara lizard is famous for having the fastest-evolving DNA of any living animal.
Jerod Shelby chose this name to symbolize the rapid evolution of the brand's technology from the Ultimate Aero to the new flagship. The car's rear aerodynamic winglets also mimic the spikes on the reptile's back.
The SSC Tuatara is an ultra-exclusive hypercar with a base price typically starting around $1.6 million to $1.9 million.
Production is strictly limited (planned for 100 units total), ensuring exclusivity. The "Striker" and "Aggressor" variants command even higher prices due to their specialized carbon fiber bodywork and performance upgrades.
To handle 1,750 horsepower, a standard manual wouldn't survive. The Tuatara uses a CIMA 7-speed automated manual transmission.
It is "robotized," meaning it uses paddles to shift, but the internal mechanism is similar to a manual gearbox. It is incredibly aggressive, capable of shifting gears in sub-100 milliseconds in Track Mode, delivering violent, uninterrupted acceleration.
Yes, the standard SSC Tuatara and the high-downforce Striker model are fully street-legal in the United States.
They feature features like a hydraulic nose lift system to clear speed bumps, air conditioning, and a digital infotainment system, allowing them to be driven on public roads despite having the performance of a Le Mans prototype.