The term ‘Supercar’ existed long before the Miura – Jalopnik

I hate to break it to you, but if you thought the Lamborghini Miura and its 345 hp V12 introduced the term ‘supercar’ into the automotive lexicon, you are sorely mistaken. It seems hilarious by today’s standards, but the first recorded account of the term “supercar” dates back to 1920, when a British newspaper used it to describe the power of the 6.7-liter Ensign 6, a high-performance car with almost 39 horsepower. Maybe not as glamorous as we thought, but that’s about twice the power of a 1915 Ford Model T.

While ‘supercar’ is used and abused in today’s journalistic landscape, we can’t help but wonder why the late LJK Setright (of CAR Magazine) chose the 1967 Miura as his car of choice to popularize the term. Was it just the looks, or did technique and refinement play a role? There’s no denying that the Miura brought several chassis improvements, and it was/is certainly a beauty. Performance was also a step above rivals at the time. However, you could even argue that the 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing and the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO are equally deserving of the title.

This might be a useful part of defining what a supercar is. We think a supercar is something that is fast, attractive and not easily attainable. But does that make the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S or the Ford Mustang GTD a supercar? Unfortunately, the line between a sports car and a supercar is as blurred as a fogged-up windshield these days, so we have to be a bit more nuanced than that.

While there is no written rule, we believe that for something to qualify as a supercar it must be beautiful and poster-worthy. But where do you draw the line when it comes to performance? The Turbo S and Ferrari 296 are fast cars, but so are BMW M4s and C8 Corvettes. Maybe it’s 0-60 times? The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 has about the same 0-60 time (on unprepared surfaces with stock tires) as a Lamborghini Huracan.

Despite its 1,025 hp, the Demon 170 is not a supercar in our books, but the C8 ZR1X is. Even though GM calls it a hypercar because it’s a mid-engine hybrid and produces over 1,200 horsepower, YouTubers like Doud DeMuro still call it a supercar. Interestingly, the Pagani Utopia, which is also mid-engined but has about 400 hp less than the ZR1X, is widely considered a hypercar despite its power output of less than 1,000 hp.

Clearly, we’re at a point where horsepower and performance aren’t enough to distinguish sports cars from supercars and supercars from hypercars. So it’s all about money? Yes, that and exclusivity. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a supercar is defined as a very fast car that is unusual or rare, while others also include price and engine location. A sports car, on the other hand, is often described based on seating capacity and driving characteristics.

As you can probably tell, cars like the C8 Corvette and Porsche 911s (depending on their versions) clearly overlap simply based on definitions. While there is a performance delta, ultimately we can confidently say that a supercar is relatively rare and much more expensive than a sports car, with a similar distinction being made between supercars and hypercars.