Bugatti Veyron-rivalling SSC Tuatara supercar will be built in Washington state

By Stephen Edelstein Published June 16, 2014

The land of Bill Gates and Starbucks is about to get a lot louder.

Shelby Supercars (SSC) hopes to start building a factory for its Tuatara supercar in West Richland, Washington, the local Tri-City Herald (via Autoblog) reports.

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The company has been planning this facility since at least 2011, but financial issues have held the project back. Now, the way appears to be clear. SSC hopes to complete the factory by early 2015, with the first cars rolling out in the months after that. The first Tuatara deliveries were originally supposed to happen earlier this year.

It might be worth the wait, though. SSC’s Ultimate Aero briefly held the record for world’s fastest production car, and the company hopes the Tuatara will recapture it.

To do that, SSC will equip the Tuatara with a 7.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 from Nelson Racing Engines. The force-fed engine will produce a claimed 1,350 horsepower and 1,280 pound-feet of torque, which should be plenty considering the Tuatara’s projected curb weight of 2,750 pounds.

While small supercar-makers always face a precarious existence, SSC was able to bloody the nose of the (non-Super Sport) Bugatti Veyron with the Ultimate Aero. Can it achieve a similarly epic feat with the Tuatara?

Stephen Edelstein

Former Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

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