List of production cars by horsepower


This list is limited to unmodified production cars which meet the eligibility criteria below. All entries must be able to be verified from.

Eligible cars

Because of the inconsistencies with the various definitions of production cars, dubious claims by manufacturers and self-interest groups, and inconsistent or changing application of the definitions, this list has a defined set of requirements. For further explanation of how these were arrived at see the links above.
For the purposes of this list, a production car is defined as a vehicle that is:
  1. constructed principally for retail sale to consumers, for their personal use, to transport people on public roads
  2. available for commercial sale to the public in the same specification as the vehicle used to achieve the record
  3. manufactured in the record-claiming specification by a manufacturer whose WMI number is shown on the VIN, including vehicles that are modified by either professional tuners or others that result in a VIN with a WMI number in their name
  4. pre-1981 vehicles must be made by the original vehicle manufacturer and not modified by either professional tuners or individuals
  5. street-legal in its intended markets, having fulfilled the homologation tests or inspections required under either a) United States of America, b) European Union law, or to be granted this status
  6. sold in more than one national market.

    Further limitations

For the purpose of manageability, this list is limited to production cars that have at least 800 horsepower. Car models with higher-powered variants are listed only in their most powerful incarnation. For the timeline of most powerful cars, the production car definition is only applied to modern cars due to the scarcity of reliable info on Veteran and Vintage era automobiles.

Most powerful production cars

Timeline of most powerful production cars