SSC admits Tuatara hypercar never even hit 483 km/h

SSC Tuatara never became the fastest production car

It’s one thing to claim you’ve done something, but it’s another to prove it all together.

So when American company SSC claimed that their new Tuatara hypercar had achieved 533 km/h or 331 mph last year, they had some doubters. That’s because they managed to beat the current speed-king – the Bugatti Chiron. To prove that they were able to do so, they even did the run twice, averaging 509 km/h (316 mph), or so they say.

Shortly after the announcement was made, some high-profile names in the automotive scene quickly called SSC’s record run video into question. Youtuber Schmee150 was one of them, and the other was Engineering Explained. The latter even calculated that the Tuatara was likely traveling below the claimed 509 km/h average.

At the time, SSC rebuked the claims saying speed-tracking equipment Dewetron validated the record. Interestingly, Dewetron released a statement denying any involvement with the Tuatara’s record run. Instead, only their equipment was used, but the company could not verify if the speed was indeed set. To prove their point, SSC tried to set a record again. But this time, they fell short of reaching 483 km/h or 300 mph, hitting only 455 km/h. Fast, but the record’s not looking too good, right?

Nearly six months after the controversy, it seems SSC has come clean. SSC admitted that the first numbers weren’t real through an Instagram post.

“We have seen your questions for months now and understand your frustrations. If it hasn’t been made clear up to this point, we would like to acknowledge officially that we did not reach the originally claimed speeds of 331 MPH or even 301 MPH in October of 2020. We were truly heartbroken as a company to learn that we did not reach this feat, and we are in an ongoing effort to break the 300 MPH barrier transparently, officially, and undoubtedly,” said SSC.

It remains unclear how SSC came up with the original numbers of the Tuatara. However, it’s good to see that the hypercar builder will try and set things straight in the future. With that, it seems the title of fastest production car stays with the Bugatti Chiron.