The fastest car in the world, the slowest car to reach market

"Nauraushaun" (nauraushaun12)
10/20/2020 at 18:13 • Filed to: None

Remember !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! glorious post? About the car with the longest span from concept to production?

I’m not sure we got a firm number, but I think the winner was the original one posted: the Citroen DS5 at 74 months from concept to production.

Well, based on the date of the article below through to February 2020, the Tuatara is something like 103 months .

The 2011 Tuatara

I found !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! using Google’s option to search by custom date range, searching for “Tuatara SSC” between 2011 and 2013. It’s pretty juicy. Some quotes:

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The end of the year! Bah!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The irony! It’s literally named for the fact that it was created and brought to market quickly, yet was created slower than any other car ever built! Fascinating though that they managed to predict this trend of naming things after exactly what they aren’t, non-turbo Turbos and non-coupe Coupes and such.

Of course the article is all afire about how it’s going to take down the Veyron SS, but by now it’s been done and done again, the Veyron is no longer the car to beat. The fact that they even mention the Veyron speaks to how long ago it was.

Ultimately they blitzed their guesstimate of 275mph, but does that make it okay? I feel like shouting big numbers when you’re so, so far from actually achieving them is little better than clickbait. Even if you do eventually meet them, there’s a sour taste in my mouth about it. They aren’t the only American supercar company that makes wild predictions they’re far from achieving.

Well done SSC. But next time, pls save your boasting for when you’ve earned it.

DISCUSSION (16)

PatBateman > Nauraushaun
10/20/2020 at 18:37

It took a long time to make this car because

I don’t know, but it’s here.

Thomas Donohue > Nauraushaun
10/20/2020 at 19:07

Only half as long as the new NSX.

interstate366, now In The Industry > Nauraushaun
10/20/2020 at 21:14

Tuataras move slowly. Hence the wait time.

Nauraushaun > Thomas Donohue
10/20/2020 at 21:17

Depends how you slice it ;)

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/1845229671

There’s a line here. You might say the mid-engined Corvette was in concept form for 50 years - but the final car didn’t resemble any of those concepts.

Nauraushaun > PatBateman
10/20/2020 at 21:17

It doesn’t really seem as complicated as the Chiron. It’s just a TTV8, not absurdly big or complicated. The design actually seems pretty unchanged over 9 years, so what took so long?

I don’t know, but it’s here.

Nauraushaun > interstate366, now In The Industry
10/20/2020 at 21:26

They go slowly to go fast

Nickcage > PatBateman
10/20/2020 at 22:39

Carroll Shelby’s estate sued Shelby Super Cars(SSC), delaying SSC building a new facility and the “ new” car. Props for the design, maturing with only a couple tweaks.

Kar Wai Wong > Nauraushaun
10/21/2020 at 06:05

Glorious post? I think your overselling it!

But yeah I think we have a definite answer, other than maybe the LM002 on a technicality . Who else would take over 8 and a half years of development and reach a finish line without cancellation?

When you get an answer I hope you’ll make a new post to tell us all :) Sounds like it might be a fight between the GT-R and the C-Cross

Kinda funny that you were the one that made the post.

Nauraushaun > Kar Wai Wong
10/21/2020 at 17:12

It was good! The discussion was great, but it’s incredible that you managed to find the winner before making the post. Despite everyone’s input, the DS5 was right in the end!

Haha I never did see a wrap up post!

I missed that about the LM00 2. I think it comes down to months, since both were within the range of 9 years. And also how you define the start date. For instance the Tuatara was shown in August 2011 but that article is from July, yet development surely started a year or two earlier. Do we go off first public appearance? Or earliest internet mention? Of course the LM002 is disadvantaged in that way. What’s the technicality? That it was developed as a military vehicle first?

Kar Wai Wong > Nauraushaun
10/21/2020 at 18:37

Well I never planned a wrap up post, because unless we systematically look at every concept car ever released, we may never know the definite answer. It was just a thought I had, and hopefully come up with a best guess.

Despite everyone’s input, the DS5 was right in the end

So you personally don’t think the SSC counts? Or do you mean out of all the answers in the post?

As for the criteria , it’s like: the manufacture unveils this shiny, amazing concept car to the world, and the question kinda asks who was the slowest that got round to finish making it. Therefore prototypes of the production car or leaks that reveal the concept prematurely don’t count, as that makes it unequal. M y criteria was the start point is the first official full public reveal of the concept . So teasers images or announcements with no pics don’t count (although sketches may be a grey zone). And the end point is the first month of the start of production, which is often difficult to find out, and is near impossible if you narrow that down to something like the like the date of production start , or when the first car was finished, or delivered to the customer. That’s why the measurement of months is intentionally loose, and not any more precise. Therefore I didn’t really put much effort in finding the exact date of the concept reveal, just more like: C oncept was revealed at this auto show, and that show takes place in March. So for the Tuatara’s start point is from September 2010 ( specifically the 8th ). As for the end point, well production started on July 2019 ! I guess the question doesn’t really play well with boutique cars which can take weeks or even months to build each. ( And does it count if production is started but cancelled midway?) Anyways that’s 106 months, you were close. T he first customer car however seemed to be finished by at most February 2020 , if you want to count it like that, it’s 113 months.

Jeez why did I write so much ?

Kar Wai Wong > Nauraushaun
10/21/2020 at 19:05

As for the LM002, it’s a weird example. How many other cars went from a cancelled military vehicle to a road-going production car? L ike I said, no prototypes, cos every car has unrevealed prototypes, and how would you classify a start date if they’re being continuously worked on? But the Cheetah was shown at an auto show, not advertised as a final production model you can buy, but to tease and drum up interest, which if that’s not a concept car, I don’t know what is. But what if it did make it as a military vehicle, than Lamborghini made a civilian version was made several years later? The Hummer H1 came about 9 years after the HMMWV. It kinda feels like cheating. Would the end point be when production of the civilian version starts, or the military version? I mean, military vehicles are still mass-produced right, and are available to be purchased and driven ? And like I mentioned before the cancelled production car- nundrum.

So yeah, so last time I couldn’t find a production start date for the LM002, so it’s span must be around 106 to 117 months, so if it counts (I personally think it does) it almost definitely beats the SSC , but for now the Tuatara is the current winner.

Nauraushaun > Kar Wai Wong
10/21/2020 at 19:31

Oh I do think the SSC counts, I just thought it wasn’t out at the time of that post. But since the first delivery was February I guess it was. I guess we all got sick of waiting for it to come out and had forgotten completely until the top speed run :P

Good research. 106 or 113 - either way it’s heaps longer than the DS5! You’re right that it’s hard to know a definite answer, but given how few cars we found with even the DS5's paltry 70-something months, I think the Tuatara is fairly safe at the top.

Ah I see. Good point about military production date - it’s production nonetheless. The car was produced en masse. Either way, LM002 and Tuatara - both spent a loooong time before hitting production.

Interestingly, both have used names of fast animals - the Cheetah concept name for LM002, and the Tuatara named for the speed of its evolution ;)

Kar Wai Wong > Nauraushaun
10/22/2020 at 04:18

M aybe I should have RTFA because it actually says there that they say Tuatara production started right after it’s debut on Pebble Beach, so it’s end point would actually be September 2018, so 96 months. Doesn’t really effect anything, but yeah.

Nauraushaun > Kar Wai Wong
10/22/2020 at 17:37

Ah, but apparently first delivery was Feb 2020. I’d say the first car being completed is more significant than the nebulous “begin of production”

Kar Wai Wong > Nauraushaun
10/22/2020 at 18:49

I agree, it’s just that I’m following the original criteria I set. Then again with most mass-production cars, the month it starts would probably also be the month the first car was finished too, so I guess the criteria could easily be changed to the month of the first finished car without much repercussions .

Nauraushaun > Kar Wai Wong
10/22/2020 at 18:59

good points all!