The Top 15 Most Anticipated Hot and Wild Sports Car Debuts for 2011
Christmas may have been two weeks ago, but we’re still brimming with that up-till-the-crack-of-dawn level of excitement. It’s a new year and it promises to be an exciting one on the auto-show circuit. There are almost too many hot supercar debuts to count, but we narrowed the field down to the 15 we’re most excited to see.
Jaguar XE
Expected to make a debut in concept form at the Geneva Motor Show in March, the Jaguar XE will be a small sports car built on a shortened verion of the XK (shown above) platform.
2011 Fisker Karma
After years of delays and refinements, Fisker finally appears ready to launch its Karma plug-in sedan. The firm had to up the price tag once again, so buyers will have to dig a little deeper for the $95,900 base price. But if all goes according to plan, they should be able to do so by the spring.
2011 McLaren MP4-12C
This one would be farther up the list but for one fact: we already know all about it, since it debuted more than a year ago. However, the MP4-12C goes from show car to market car this year, so anyone planning on shopping for one (not us) should be more than a little enthused.
Aston Martin One-77
Another car that’s been photographed, written about and pored over from every possible angle, the One-77 reminds us that there are just not enough million-dollar cars on the road. It would seem that buyers agree; Aston announced last month that 60 out of the 77 examples of the 750-hp car are gone. Deliveries begin early this year.
2012 Porsche 911
Let’s face it: the new Porsche 911 isn’t going to look much different. It isn’t going to act much different. But it’s a living legend. So we’re definitely looking forward to ringing in a new generation at the Frankfurt Motor Show in mid-September.
2014 BMW Vision EfficientDynamics
Though the production version of the VED won’t launch until 2013, the bi-annual Frankfurt Motor Show seems like the perfect place for BMW to show off its progress. And the sexy, silver-and-blue VED variant recently spotted running track in the Middle East shows that BMW is progressing just fine.
Keating ZKRs
The Keating ZKRs is expected to debut at April’s Top Marques Monaco— the show dedicated to supercars. And when your car packs 2,200 horses in V8 configuration, it’s definitely a supercar. The 1,800-hp TKRs topped out at an unofficial 260 mph, so it will be interesting to see what this version has to offer the track.
Marussia Frankfurt Bombardment
A rumor out of AutoBlog late last month indicated that Marussia—the Russian mad scientists behind the downright evil B1 and B2—is going to go all Lotus on us at the Frankfurt Motor Show. In fact, it’s going to one-up Lotus with not six but seven new models. Coming from a small, Russian supercar firm that’s almost too hard to believe. But we’ll keep hope up until Frankfurt has come and gone.
2012 Mercedes Benz AMG SLS Roadster
It may lose the gullwing doors, but it’ll also lose the top—an attractive quality in women and sports cars alike. The convertible version of Mercedes supercar will debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
2012 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
Ferrari’s high-end 2 + 2 is expected to show off a makeover at Geneva. There’s rumors that it may be a hybrid equipped with the HY-KERS system that Ferrari put on the 599 at last year’s show. There’s also rumors that it may get lighter and more powerful. Whatever it turns out to be, we want to witness it.
Donkervoort D8 GTO
You have to get excited about a car as retro and funky as a Donkervoort. Another Geneva debut, the D8 GTO is a bigger, drop-top version of the firm’s D8 GT. Donkervoort teased its new car on its Christmas card and rumors have it that it may get the 2.5-liter five-cylinder from the Audi TT-RS.
Ferrari 458 Spider
The Ferrari 458 was one of the hottest cars of 2010. Unfortunately, sometimes that “hot” was a little too literal. The only thing that could make the 570–hp two-door any hotter would be to cut the lid off. And this year, Ferrari’s going to stay true to history and make that happen. Rumors have pointed to a possible retractable hard-top, but Ferrari may choose to go with a more traditional soft-top.
Porsche’s All-New Detroit Car
Porsche has called its mystery car “spectacular.” And when you’re dealing with a company like Porsche, that’s not to be taken lightly. To give an inkling just how awesome this debut might be, we’d actually be slightly disappointed if it’s the next version of the 918 Spyder. And we absolutely love the 918 Spyder. But the report of an all-new, never-before-seen car between the 918 and the 911 is what’s really got our hearts racing. We don’t have long to wait…
Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4
A brand new Lamborghini. Flagship. Enough said. If not, try a 690-hp engine, 217 mph top speed and 2.9-second 0 to 62 mph. Satisfied? The Aventador is expected to debut at the Geneva Motor Show.
Pagani C9
This week has been full of name changes for the Pagani. The C9 is a codename and there have been rumors of Huayra and Deus Venti, both of which refer to the wind in some form. Whatever it’s called, it’s going to hot–690-hp bespoke Mercedes AMG V12 tucked neatly into a 2,750-lb. package worth of hot.