2000s

Four of the best supercars of the 2000s

By the turn of the Millennium, we needed a new name to describe some of the cars that pushed the boundaries of performance, road-holding and sheer power: the hyper-car was born.

Lamborghini, forever determined to trump old foes Ferrari with out-and-out speed, unveiled the monstrous 212mph Murcielago, the Maranello company pitched in with the 599 GTB Fiorano – “the most complete GT car ever conceived” – while Aston Martin modernised and broke 200mph with the Vanquish S, and McLaren broke new ground with the McLaren 12c, one of the most technologically advanced supercars ever produced.

We look at how supercars evolved for the new millennium.

McLaren 12c

Producing a successor to the triumphal F1 was never going to be an easy task for the engineers at McLaren. But tasked with building the first purely McLaren-built production car in over a decade, they revealed the 12C in 2009 to critical acclaim, and it remains a popular choice for budding supercar owners.

Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Coupe

After the turn of the Millennium, the term supercar was no longer sufficient to describe the extreme performance of the cars coming out of the Lamborghini factory: welcome to the hypercar.

The Murcielago, in keeping with Lamborghini's tradition, was named after a fighting bull that was spared its life after surviving 24 sword strokes in 1879.

Aston Martin Vanquish S

The fastest Aston made at the time, the last car to be built at Newport Pagnell, and the car that marked the modern rebirth of the brand - the Vanquish is assured of its place in history.

An all-new successor to the ageing Virage range, the Vanquish, designed by Ian Callum, was introduced in 2001 at the Geneva Motor Show and was more of a super-fast Grand Tourer than an out-and-out sports car. It was also stunningly beautiful.

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

There are fast cars, and then there are very fast cars. The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano can reach 100mph faster than the vast majority of cars can get to 60mph: in just 7.4 seconds.

Crashing through 60mph in just 3.7 seconds on the way, thrust forward by a 612bhp Tipo F140 C 5999cc engine, all in a civilised coupe body, and you can see why Autocar called the Fiorano "the most complete GT ever conceived".