The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Or, so the saying goes. A lot of the world’s wealthy are doing well, and the evidence shows up in luxury car sales. Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are posting record global sales, and not only mainstream luxury brands.
Aston Martin, Bentley and Rolls-Royce are seeing big sales increases as well. Super car brands are getting on the action too though. Shelby Supercars (no relation to Caroll Shelby) of SSC Aero fame recently launched its Tuatara super car in July. We know, it’s a weird name. It is pronounced twu-tar-ah, and it comes from a New Zealand reptile. With its previous offering, SSC set out to produce the world’s fastest car and they just did that with the Ultimate Aero. The Ultimate Aero went into the record books on October 9th, 2007, posting a speed of 256.19 mph.
The Ultimate Aero held that record until June 26th, 2010 when the Bugatti Veyron SuperSport broke it with a speed of 267.856 mph. No official word on whether SSC intends to make another go for the record in the Tuatara. We think they will though, as SSC is quoting the Tuatara’s top speed at 275 mph.
Regardless of whether SSC holds the current record though, sales of the Tuatara are rolling in. SSC made an appearance at the Dubai International Auto Show intending to build awareness for the brand and help find a local distributor.
According to Gulf Car News, they found much more than that though; 10 (!) sales of the $1.3-million super car. In comparison, Lamborghini sold 14 Aventadors. The Tuatara is powered by a 6.6-liter V-8 making 1,350 horsepower, powering the Tuatara to 200 mph in 16 seconds. As for styling, traditional beauty doesn’t quite describe the Tuatara. Simply amazing does though. The Tuatara looks like nothing else on the road. You can check it out in our (sparse, SSC didn’t release many pictures) gallery below. We encourage you to go seek out some live shots of it too though; the Tuatara looks even more impressive in them.
