7 Supercars Of The 2000s That Deserve More Recognition

The noughties gave us Mean Girls, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Shrek, but it wasn’t just on the silver screen that the decade flourished. Supercars were being produced left, right and centre in the early 2000s with the new prosperity that the Millennium brought. After all this was a time when the big three assembled the original holy trinity, made up of the Ferrari Enzo, McLaren-Mercedes SLR and the Porsche Carrera GT. But in tandem with the those legendary motors were a bunch of lesser-known supercars produced by numerous small-time firms that weren’t afraid to put their necks and wallets on the line by producing niche performance cars.

So here’s a list of a few noughties supercars that deserve a bit more respect, many of which have been forgotten about or have been consigned to garaged car collections, gathering dust.

Ascari A10

Based in Banbury, UK, smalltime manufacturer Ascari managed to concoct this track-biased supercar to take on anything else that decided to cross its path. With a thumping 625bhp V8 slapped in a mid-mounted position, the A10 was a development of the previous KZ1 roadcar but unfortunately did not make production and was only realised in prototype form.

Named to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the company, the Ascari was one of the quickest cars of the noughties, getting to 60mph in just 2.8 seconds before pulling to a stratospheric 215mph. If only Ascari had kept producing road cars, the company probably could have been a serious contender to even the big supercar names. Shame that it just manages its own private race track in Spain instead…

Koenigsegg CC8S

Now renowned for stupendously powerful hypercars that are generally hidden away from any journalistic group tests, Koenigsegg produced its first road car back in 2002; the CC8S. Derived from a Ford V8, the CC8S’s powertrain pumped out around 650bhp, just over a third of the output from the company’s modern halo hybrid hypercar, the 1800bhp Regera.

Producing a car capable of 240mph straight off the bat however was a monumental feat by the Swedish hypercar maker, but unfortunately the CC8S quickly gained a reputation for ferociously twitchy handling at speed. Despite this, Koenigsegg’s first supercar paved the way for its CCX and Agera successors.

Morgan Aero 8

Famed for being completely cross-eyed, the Morgan Aero 8 was part of a theme of BMW-powered performance machinery in the 2000s. Using the 4.4-litre N62 V8, the Morgan was the first ‘new’ design by the famous British car maker since 1948. In reply to the ridicule gained over its front-end looks, Morgan replaced the Aero 8’s VW Beetle headlights with some from a BMW Mini which made the English supercar a much meaner-looking beast after its midlife redevelopment.

And there was nothing funny about the performance on tap: 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 170mph confirmed the Aero 8 as a class act from a company that only really had a reputation for cars stuck in the past.

9ff GT9

9ff is to Porsche what Brabus is to Mercedes-AMG, and then some. Loosely based upon a 911, its GT9-R Frankenstein car is one of the massively unsung heroes of the 2000s, with 1120bhp from a 4.0-litre flat-six engine and the front end from a 997 GT3.

9ff moved the engine between the axles for improved weight distribution and created a hypercar capable of 254mph - this made it quicker than the Veyron of the time but just slower than the crazy SSC Ultimate Aero. Costing upwards of £500,000, the GT9-R was a twin-turbocharged hypercar that not many modern supercars can even get close to.

Gumpert Apollo

It may have aesthetics that only its engineers could love, but the Gumpert Apollo was a rare alternative to the more generic noughties hypercars. A twin-turbocharged 4.2-litre Audi V8 was capable of getting the 1200kg package to 62mph in 3.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 224mph, making it one of the quickest cars of the decade.

With gullwing doors and no ground-clearance to speak of, the Gumpert Apollo was a true supercar legend, spending many seasons on top of the Top Gear ‘Power Lap Board’ before being surpassed by the Veyron Super Sport. The company has since been re-branded to Apollo Automobil, but the Gumpert will forever be remembered as the ugliest way to tear up a lap record.

Wiesmann MF5

I was always a massive fan of the Wiesmann’s design. It effectively took the aesthetic of the Jaguar XK120 and somehow made it look even more attractive; a seemingly impossible feat. Using a BMW-sourced twin-scroll turbocharged V8, the retro-inspired supercar could reach 193mph. It was rare too - only 55 examples of the MF5 were ever produced.

It was extremely expensive - almost three times as much as Wiesmann’s previous sports cars - but 547bhp was a huge jump over the basic M3 powertrains used in the company’s earlier cars.

Spyker C12 Zagato

Most petrolheads will have heard of the striking C8, but Spyker’s second supercar upped the company’s game with one hell of an engine. Using VW’s 6.0-litre W12 brute of a powertrain, the C12 was co-designed by the metal-forming masters that are Zagato, based in Milan.

The C12 saw Spyker switch from manual to automatic transmissions to channel the 493bhp and 450lb ft of torque to the rear wheels. Production finished in 2008 with only 24 cars being manufactured. In more recent years, the Dutch car-maker has arguably become better known for its financial troubles than its striking products.

Any noughties supercars you think deserve a bit more of the limelight? Comment below with any suggestions that we may have missed!