Powerful and Lightweight - The Supercars of Today

 The supercars seen in magazines today are hard to define. They are superfast, sleek, and extremely expensive. Aerodynamic and curvaceous, they resemble a space ship more than an auto. They have advanced sports' style handling, designed to impress but not to be driven every day. A supercar by definition is highly superior to its contemporaries. Those with the financial resources and ego to match may be able to add an eclectic supercar to their collection!

Their close to the pavement positioning implies that they have no intention of losing any speed. Due to their low to the ground status, no bumps are allowed. These beauties are designed for the superhighways (like the Autobahn) or professional speedways only, usually not city streets with potholes and speed bumps.

Other terminology associated with the supercar is the hyper car, which is even more narrowly defined. The purpose is now you see it, now you don't. Collectors of these specialized automobiles are many times designers or wealthy manufacturing moguls in the automobile industry itself. Who else would have a fetish for this amazing blend of technology, beauty, speed and power?

By nature, they have resilient and voracious engines coupled with a lightweight interior, providing an incomparable blend of speed, grace, and WOW. The engine is usually centrally located like many of the stylish sports' cars of the 1970s and beyond.

Examples of a supercar include the Lamborghini Aventador, which is the flagship model of the Lamborghini line and is typically named after a bull which valiantly held its ground in 1993. Its top speed is 354 km/hr. The two-door coupe is powered with a V12 engine, equipped with a seven-speed semi-automatic transmission and weighs only 1575 kilograms. A two-door roadster model began production in the second half of 2012. It can apparently reach 100 km/hr in only 2.9 seconds.

Another example is the black Pontiac Trans Am used in the Knight Rider television series in the United States (1982-1986). It starred David Hasselhoff, who later established superstardom on the Baywatch series in the 1990s. The supercar used in the series had capabilities of artificial intelligence to assist its driver, the hero Michael Knight. It was virtually indestructible, assuming a human-like identity showing that it was much more than just a car. It also displayed a predisposition towards helping damsels in distress, hence the word "knight" in the title.

The term may have been used as early as the 1920s when it called the Ensign 6 "a supercar". This auto resembled its competitor, the Bentley. The combination of power and speed in a lightweight body chassis was also noted back in 1957 when the Rambler Rebel was also referred to as a supercar.

Another, albeit abstract definition of a supercars may also refer to a study conducted by the United State Department of Commerce to create a wonder car with fuel efficiency to three times the current level. The Ford Taurus, an American midsize, was selected as the prototype for this study, which was never fully realized.