Canadian Supercars

This is the old "Canadian supercar." Now we have something
a bit better to be proud of. Photo credit heartymagazine.com.

For decades the world of supercars has been owned by the Europeans.

The Italians in particular have done an extremely good job of creating some of the craziest supercars the world has ever seen (think Pagani, Lamborghini, Ferrari). The Brits have Aston Martin and Noble, and the Germans have Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, and BMW all with supercar aspirations.

Even our neighbours to the south have done some supercar work. The Shelby Supercar Company challenged the Bugatti Veyron (another German supercar) for the world speed record with their SSC Ultimate Aero.

In fact even when it comes to just normal cars, Canada doesn't own any well-known car companies.

Now though, they want a piece of the supercar cake.

Canada used to only produce cars for companies based out of other countries, but today we have not one, but two supercars built by companies from the land of hockey.




De Macross GT1

The De Macross GT1. One of Canada's two supercars. Photo Credit gtspirit.com.

The first is called the De Macross GT1 and it has a bit of a Ford GT look to it at first glance, but the more you look at it, the more retro it starts to feel. The square lights, the off white colour, the horizontal lines on the back and over the rear tires all give it unique look.

It has sort of a retro feel to it doesn't it?
Photo credit rpmgo.com.

Also it deserves some credit for sporting the gull-wing doors.

But how does it match up with other supercars? Well according to the press release courtesy of autoblog.com it has a 5.4 L supercharged V8 which cranks out 800 plus horsepower along with 700 plus lb ft of torque.

Those numbers lead the company to estimate the 0-60 time of 3.4 seconds as well as a top speed of over 346 kmph (215 mph). Those are certainly numbers that can rival most other supercars.

The GT1 is also very technologically advanced. It has a hydraulic anti-roll system, as well as a height control system that lowers the car for faster driving. It also employs many other technological advancements currently seen in F1 cars.

It is made mostly out of aluminium and carbon fibre to keep the weight as low as possible.

Although the price isn't known yet, one can reasonably assume it won't come cheap.

But if the GT1 doesn't get your engine going there is another option.

HTT Plethore

The other of the Canadian supercars. Photo credit carsroute.com.

That other option is the HTT Plethore.

The Plethore is visually stunning. It certainly looks the part of a supercar. It has scissor doors, and the steering wheel is in the middle of the car like a McLaren F1.

The HTT website says the mid-engined monster houses a 7L V8 which produces 750 horsepower, although autoblog is reporting that HTT plans to release an even more powerful version. One capable of putting out 1,300 horsepower.

It's ridiculously light too. It is made almost solely from carbon fibre it weighs 1,250 kg (HTT website). The most impressive thing about this weight is that HTT haven't stripped it bare. There are still many creature comforts like air conditioning, heated mirrors, electric windows, a radio with a seven speaker sound system, and two cameras with a LCD screen.

The cost for one of these bad boys is pretty high though. For the 750 bhp version you're looking at spending $495,000 CDN according to automoblog.net. The 1,300 bhp version could have you shelling out closer to $1 million dollars.

While the competition for these two supercars is extremely tough, it looks like a good starting point for the Canadian supercar industry.