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Five Supercar Concepts That Made the 2010s Gloriously Unreasonable

The 2010s were a strange, optimistic decade for supercar concepts. Automakers weren’t just chasing lap times or Nürburgring bragging rights—they were trying to predict the future, often with wildly ambitious tech, movie-car swagger, and just enough realism to make us believe production might actually happen. Most didn’t. All of them mattered.

Here are five supercar concepts from the 2010s that still live rent-free in our enthusiast brains.

01 Jaguar C-X75

The supercar that almost escaped the concept-car curse

When Jaguar rolled the C-X75 onto the Paris Motor Show stage in 2010, it didn’t just turn heads—it short-circuited them. Two diesel micro-turbines powering four electric motors? Sure, why not. Initially pitched as a design exercise, the C-X75 was so spectacular that Jaguar did the unthinkable and promised to build it.

Reality intervened. The turbine setup gave way to a more conventional 1.6-liter supercharged four-cylinder hybrid developed with Williams Advanced Engineering, and a limited run of 250 cars was planned. Five prototypes were built. One ended up terrorizing James Bond in Spectre. Then the global recession showed up and killed the project stone dead.

The C-X75 remains one of the greatest “what if?” cars of the modern era—a reminder that sometimes the hardest part of building a supercar isn’t engineering, but timing.

02 Mercedes-Benz AMG Vision Gran Turismo

From PlayStation fantasy to real-world excess

The Vision Gran Turismo program gave designers a blank check, and Mercedes-AMG absolutely cashed it. Originally created for Gran Turismo 6, the AMG Vision Gran Turismo looked like a 300 SL that had spent too much time in the gym and discovered carbon fiber.

Then Mercedes built it. For real. Debuting at the 2013 LA Auto Show, the car featured gullwing doors, an aluminum spaceframe, carbon-fiber bodywork, and a frankly absurd eight exhaust outlets at the rear. Power came from a 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8 pushing 577 horsepower through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, all wrapped in a 1,385-kg package.

Only five examples exist, one of which appeared as Bruce Wayne’s automotive flex in Justice League. Add the Batmobile and, yes, that is a strong two-car garage.

03 Lamborghini Terzo Millennio

The concept car that sounded like science fiction—and meant it

Lamborghini has never been shy about drama, but the Terzo Millennio took things to another dimension. Developed with MIT in 2017, this electric concept wasn’t about specs—it was about rewriting the rules entirely.

The carbon-fiber body was designed to act as an energy storage system, woven with nanotechnology that could theoretically store electricity and even heal micro-cracks on its own. Instead of batteries, Lamborghini proposed supercapacitors. Instead of one or two motors, it envisioned four—one at each wheel. It even featured a “ghost” driving mode that could demonstrate the perfect racing line.

Was any of this realistic? Maybe not. Was it peak Lamborghini energy? Absolutely. The Terzo Millennio didn’t predict the future—it dared it to keep up.

04 Pininfarina H2 Speed

Hydrogen, but make it Italian

At the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, Pininfarina quietly dropped a bombshell: the world’s first hydrogen-powered, track-only hypercar. The H2 Speed wasn’t just a styling exercise—it ran, drove, and made a serious case for hydrogen performance.

Two hydrogen tanks fed a pair of electric motors delivering 489 horsepower to the rear wheels, pushing the 1,420-kg car from 0–62 mph in 3.4 seconds and on to a claimed 186 mph. All of it was wrapped in a dramatic three-piece carbon-fiber body that looked every bit as fast as it claimed to be.

Pininfarina even teased a road-going version in 2018. Then, like many ambitious concepts before it, the H2 Speed faded into obscurity—aside from a cameo in Asphalt 9. Hydrogen may still be waiting for its moment.

05 Porsche 919 Street

Le Mans, but for license plates

When Porsche quietly revealed the 919 Street Concept in 2020, enthusiasts collectively leaned closer to their screens. Based directly on the Le Mans–winning 919 Hybrid, this wasn’t a styling tribute—it was nearly the real thing.

Underneath the body sat the race car’s carbon monocoque, suspension, and drivetrain, including a turbocharged V4 hybrid setup producing around 900 horsepower. Porsche genuinely studied the feasibility of putting it into limited production before deciding the complexity was simply too much.

The concept now lives in the Porsche Museum, a tantalizing reminder that Porsche came very close to building the most hardcore road car imaginable. Not long after, Porsche built something called the 963—and the idea of race tech trickling down suddenly didn’t feel so impossible after all.

The 2010s were a golden age of audacious supercar concepts—cars that weren’t afraid to be strange, complicated, or wildly optimistic. Some flirted with production, others existed purely to provoke, but all of them pushed the conversation forward.

Today’s hypercars are faster, smarter, and more electrified than ever. And they owe more than they’d like to admit to these beautifully impractical machines that dared to imagine the future first.

News

Red Bull’s RB17 Hypercar Locks In Its Final Form—and It Looks Like a Weapon

Red Bull has never been subtle. This is the company that turned energy drinks into a Formula One dynasty and then decided that wasn’t ambitious enough. Now it’s building a hypercar. Not a “road car with track capability” hypercar, mind you, but a full-blown, track-only projectile designed with one overriding objective: go very, very fast.

We first saw the RB17 back in July 2024, a tantalizing preview of Red Bull Advanced Technologies’ first crack at a customer car. Today, the covers come off the finalized design ahead of its on-sale debut later this year—and the production-spec RB17 looks even more focused, more aggressive, and somehow more unhinged than the prototype that preceded it.

If the original RB17 hinted at Formula One DNA, the finished version shouts it through a carbon-fiber megaphone.

The front end is cleaner than before, but don’t mistake restraint for friendliness. Slim LED headlights are neatly integrated into sharply sculpted bodywork, and every surface appears to exist solely to manage airflow. There’s no decorative fluff here, no “design for design’s sake.” The RB17’s nose looks like it was shaped in a wind tunnel because, well, it probably was.

Move along the side profile and things get even more serious. Deep channels slice through the carbon bodywork, guiding air rearward toward massive cooling zones. The roof-mounted intake feeds the mid-mounted engine directly, while a towering central fin—clearly inspired by endurance racing prototypes—anchors the whole thing visually and aerodynamically. It’s the kind of fin that suggests the RB17 would feel right at home blasting down the Mulsanne Straight at 3 a.m.

Despite being strictly a track car, the RB17 does check a few boxes typically reserved for road-going hypercars. It has mirrors. It has a windshield wiper. Those details may sound mundane, but they signal something important: this isn’t a rolling concept or a design exercise. What you’re looking at is very close to what customers will actually receive.

Open the cockpit, and any lingering doubt disappears.

Red Bull has gone all-in on race-car minimalism. There are no touchscreens, no glossy infotainment panels, and no distractions masquerading as luxury. Instead, the cockpit is dominated by physical controls—real buttons, real switches, the good stuff. The seating position, steering wheel, and sightlines were all designed with lap times as the primary metric, not comfort on a cross-country drive that will never happen.

And then there’s the engine. Oh yes, the engine.

At the heart of the RB17 sits a naturally aspirated 4.5-liter V-10 developed by Cosworth, an engine builder with a résumé that reads like a greatest-hits album of motorsport. This one revs to a spine-tingling 15,000 rpm and produces roughly 1,000 horsepower on its own. An electric motor adds another 200 hp, bringing total output to a deeply unnecessary—and deeply wonderful—1,200 horsepower.

Power is sent exclusively to the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential gearbox, backed up by a hydraulically locking active limited-slip differential. Reverse gear? That’s handled by the hybrid system, because of course it is. Everything about this drivetrain screams purpose, efficiency, and total disregard for moderation.

Red Bull plans to build just 50 examples of the RB17, ensuring exclusivity is baked in from the start. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but let’s not kid ourselves—this is a well-over-seven-figure proposition aimed at collectors who already have garages full of rare machinery and still want something that feels truly special.

The RB17 is currently undergoing final testing, which suggests production is imminent. When it does arrive, it won’t be street legal, it won’t be practical, and it definitely won’t be subtle. But it will be fast in a way that feels almost rebellious in today’s era of downsized engines and digital everything.

Red Bull didn’t just build a hypercar. It built a statement—one that revs to 15,000 rpm and dares the rest of the automotive world to keep up.

Source: Red Bull Advanced Technologies via Top Gear

News

BMW Takes the Wheel at Alpina—And Promises Speed with a Silk-Lined Ride

For six decades, Alpina has lived in a sweet spot that BMW’s own M division never quite occupied. While M chased lap times and Nürburgring bragging rights, Alpina quietly perfected the art of going very fast without rattling your fillings loose. Now, that philosophy is officially back under BMW’s direct control—and Munich is making it clear that Alpina’s mission won’t be diluted into just another performance sub-brand.

BMW has completed its long-planned takeover of the Buchloe-based firm and relaunched it as BMW Alpina, an “exclusive standalone brand” within the BMW Group, sitting alongside BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce. If that sounds like corporate reshuffling, the intent is more meaningful than the press-release phrasing suggests: Alpina is no longer a semi-independent tuner with factory blessing. It’s now fully baked into BMW’s long-term strategy.

The acquisition itself isn’t new—BMW bought Alpina back in 2022—but an agreement with the founding Bovensiepen family allowed the company to operate independently until the end of 2025. That window has now closed, marking the end of Alpina as we knew it. The final independently developed Alpina debuted last year, quietly closing a chapter that included legends like the B7 Bi-Turbo and the diesel-powered torque monster known as the D5.

BMW isn’t ready to talk specifics about upcoming models yet. The early phase is focused on what it calls “brand activation,” which is marketing-speak for setting the stage before the cars arrive. Still, BMW has dropped enough hints to sketch a clear direction—and it’s reassuringly familiar.

According to BMW, future Alpina models will emphasize a “unique balance of maximum performance and superior driving comfort,” paired with “hallmark driving characteristics.” That’s corporate poetry for the Alpina formula enthusiasts already understand: effortless speed, long-legged gearing, suspension tuned for real roads, and interiors that feel more bespoke lounge than track-day cockpit.

Crucially, BMW is keen to draw a bright line between Alpina and BMW M. That distinction has always been Alpina’s lifeblood. Where M cars tend to shout, Alpinas whisper—until you bury the throttle and realize you’re traveling at a speed that would get your license revoked in several countries simultaneously. Expect that duality to remain intact.

The brand will also double down on customization. BMW promises a “remarkable portfolio” of bespoke options, focusing on premium materials and craftsmanship. Translation: Lavalina leather, subtle exterior detailing, and the kind of personalization that appeals to buyers who know exactly why they’re choosing Alpina—and don’t need to explain it to anyone else. BMW says each vehicle will be “an exclusive object for connoisseurs,” which feels like a carefully chosen phrase aimed directly at Alpina’s traditionally understated clientele.

Design-wise, BMW Alpina is already laying groundwork. Former Polestar design chief Max Missoni has been tapped to oversee the brand’s aesthetic direction, a move that suggests modern minimalism rather than retro pastiche. Reinforcing that link between past and future is a newly revealed wordmark, inspired by an asymmetrical logo Alpina experimented with in the 1970s. It’s subtle, heritage-aware, and refreshingly free of nostalgia overload—exactly the tone Alpina has always favored.

What remains unanswered is how far BMW will let Alpina roam technically. Historically, Alpina engines were hand-assembled and heavily reworked, earning their own VINs and manufacturer status in Germany. Whether BMW will preserve that level of mechanical distinction—or shift Alpina closer to ultra-luxury, factory-approved specials—will define the brand’s next era.

For now, BMW’s messaging suggests restraint rather than reinvention. Alpina isn’t being turned into a softer M, nor a harder Rolls-Royce. Instead, BMW appears intent on preserving Alpina as the thinking person’s performance brand—the one you choose not to impress your neighbors, but because you know exactly what makes a great car great.

If BMW sticks to that plan, Alpina’s future could be quieter than an M car’s—and all the faster for it.

Source: BMW