Speed has always been one of the clearest measures of what a car can do. And right now the bar is higher than it has ever been, with several cars on this list possessing the ability to travel in excess of 400km/h. The engineers building these things are working in the same territory as fighter aircraft, and they are doing it with cars you can legally drive on a public road.
Here are the ten fastest cars in the world right now.
1. Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut (499 km/h)
Koenigsegg is a small manufacturer based in Ängelholm, Sweden, and the Jesko Absolut is the fastest car they have ever built, which means it is the fastest car anyone has ever built. The engine is a twin-turbocharged 5.0-litre V8 producing 1,600hp and 1,500Nm of torque, running on E85 biofuel. The theoretical top speed of 499km/h has been calculated by simulation rather than proven on a runway, but the Jesko Absolut has set enough records to suggest it is credible, including the fastest ever 0-400km/h and back to zero run, completed in 27.83 seconds. The car weighs 1,390kg and has an active aerodynamics package that keeps it planted at speeds that would otherwise simply tear it off the road. It costs around $3 million USD.
2. Yangwang U9 Xtreme (496 km/h)
In September 2025, a Chinese electric hypercar called the Yangwang U9 Xtreme set the official world record for the fastest production car on a runway in Germany, clocking 496km/h. Yangwang is a performance sub-brand of BYD, and the U9 Xtreme runs four electric motors producing a combined 3,000hp through a 1,200-volt electrical system, compared to the 400-volt architecture most family EVs use. Just 30 examples will be produced, with prices expected to start north of £200,000. The fact that the fastest verified production car in the world is an electric Chinese hypercar is not something most people would have predicted five years ago.
3. SSC Tuatara (475 km/h)
SSC is an American manufacturer based in Washington state, and the Tuatara has had a complicated relationship with the speed record. In October 2020, SSC claimed it had hit 531km/h, which would have made it the fastest production car ever. That claim was later withdrawn after a GPS error was identified. In early 2022, SSC ran it again properly and recorded a verified top speed of 475km/h, which still places it among the fastest cars on earth. The engine is a twin-turbocharged 5.9-litre V8 producing up to 1,750hp on ethanol. The body is made almost entirely from carbon fibre, and the whole car weighs just 1,247kg.
4. Bugatti Tourbillon (446 km/h)
Bugatti has been synonymous with extreme speed since the Veyron set the production car record in 2005. The Tourbillon is the latest iteration of that obsession, powered by a naturally aspirated 8.3-litre V16 petrol engine paired with three electric motors for a combined output of 1,800hp. It will cover 0-100km/h in under two seconds and run on to a top speed of 446km/h. The car costs £3.2 million and is built at Bugatti’s Molsheim atelier in Alsace. A more powerful variant is expected down the line, following the same pattern Bugatti used with the Chiron Super Sport 300+.
5. Hennessey Venom F5 (438 km/h)
John Hennessey has been building modified American muscle cars for decades, and the Venom F5 is the first car built entirely in-house from the ground up. The engine is a 6.6-litre twin-turbocharged V8 called the Fury, producing 1,817hp and 1,617Nm of torque, making it the most powerful combustion engine on this list. The F5 weighs just 1,360kg, and the combination of that power output and that weight gives it a 0-100km/h time of 2.6 seconds and a top speed of 438km/h. Hennessey has been targeting 480km/h with further development runs, though that milestone is yet to be officially verified.
6. Rimac Nevera R (430 km/h)
Rimac is a Croatian company that has spent the last decade quietly building some of the most technically advanced electric vehicles on the planet, also engineering the powertrains in the Porsche Taycan and Bugatti’s hybrid systems. The Nevera R is the upgraded version of the original Nevera, with output from its four electric motors increased from 1,914hp to 2,107hp. Top speed is 430km/h, and it covers 0-100km/h in 1.7 seconds, which puts it among the fastest-accelerating cars ever made regardless of powertrain. The Nevera R is limited to 50 examples worldwide.
7. Aspark Owl (413 km/h)
Aspark is a Japanese engineering consultancy that produced the Owl as a demonstration of what was technically possible in an electric hypercar. The car uses four electric motors producing a combined 1,953hp, packaged in a carbon fibre body that sits just 99cm tall. Top speed is 413km/h, and 0-100km/h takes 1.7 seconds. A track-only variant called the Owl SP600 pushes the speed to 437km/h, though that version is not road legal. Only 50 examples of the road-going Owl were produced, priced at around $3.6 million each.
8. Czinger 21C V Max (407 km/h)
The Czinger 21C is one of the most unconventional cars on this list. The two seats are laid out in a tandem configuration, one behind the other, rather than side by side, giving the car a narrower profile and a body that is significantly more aerodynamically efficient than a conventional layout would allow. The powertrain is a 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 hybrid system producing 1,250hp, and the entire car weighs just 1,250kg, most of it carbon fibre. Top speed is 407km/h, 0-100km/h takes 1.9 seconds, and the car looks exactly like a Le Mans prototype someone has driven to the shops.
9. McLaren Speedtail (402 km/h)
McLaren did not build the Speedtail to chase a speed record, and it shows in the design philosophy. Where most of the cars on this list are built around maximum power output, the Speedtail was engineered around minimum drag. There are no large wings or aerodynamic appendages, and the body tapers to a long, narrow tail that gives it a silhouette unlike anything else on the road. The powertrain is a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 hybrid producing 1,050hp, and the top speed is 402km/h. Only 106 were made, all sold before the car was publicly revealed, at a price of approximately £2.1 million each.
10. Koenigsegg Regera (402 km/h)
The Regera is the second Koenigsegg on this list and arguably the more remarkable engineering achievement. It pairs a twin-turbocharged 5.0-litre V8 with three electric motors for a combined output of 1,500hp, but the detail that sets it apart from everything else is the transmission. The Regera has no traditional gearbox. It uses a single hydraulic coupling between the engine and the rear wheels, which means it pulls from almost any speed in a single unbroken surge of power, covering 0-400km/h in 20 seconds. The top speed is 402km/h, matching the Speedtail, and just 80 examples were produced between 2016 and 2020 at a base price of around $1.9 million.