SSC reveals 1300kW Tuatara capable of 480km/h

SSC North America has launched a new hypercar at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in California that it claims will be capable of clocking more than 480km/h.

Called the Tuatara, the production-ready US-made Bugatti Chiron rival gets a dramatic shape that is said to gift it an impossibly low drag coefficient of just 0.276Cd, which is crucial for SSC to realise its aim of becoming the world's fastest car.

The Tuatara concept features a redesigned front-end with a larger front grille, while the rear of the car has been modified to incorporate a pair of subtle winglets, hinting at a substantially reworked aero package over the 2011 concept.

Under the rear boot lid is a mid-mounted twin-turbocharged 5.9-litre V8 that was developed by both SSC and Californian-based engineering firm, Nelson Racing Engines.

Incorporating race car tech like dual water-to-air intercoolers and twin-fuel injection per cylinder, plus two huge turbos, SSC claims on regular 91 octane the Tuatara produces an incredible 1007kW.

More astonishingly, when the twin-turbo V8 is fed with E85 ethanol, power rockets up to 1300kW.

Channelling all that might to the rear wheels is a motorsport-style seven-speed sequential transmission.

SSC hasn't released how quick to 100km/h it expects the Tuatara will be, but the US car-maker says it confident its latest offering will have a top speed of 300mph (482km/h).

If true, this means the SSC will usurp the current record holder, Koenigsegg's Agera RS, which recorded an incredible 458km/h on a closed road in Nevada in November 2017.

Although it has announced plans to make 100 Tuataras, SSC has not confirmed how much each Bugatti Chiron-beater will cost.

It's also not known if there are any plans to engineer the US-made hypercar for right-hand drive markets.