It's a fact that German carmakers build some of the best performance cars in the world, Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, and BMW have all staked a claim to the fastest coupe, sedan, or other niche models over the years. Undoubtedly they are all great sports cars, but they are all common on our roads today, there is however a huge number of smaller and lesser-known brands that most gearheads will not be familiar with.
Here are the rarest German sports cars ever, from the very best unique niche carmakers
10 Bitter CD - German Engineering, American Muscle
Founded in 1971 by former racing driver Erich Bitter and most famously known for re-bodying existing production cars, Erich Bitter Automobile GmbH would later produce a series of low production sports cars from the ground up.
First displayed at the 1973 Frankfurt Motorshow the CD was an instant hit among attendees, with Bitter taking 173 orders. Designed as a three-door hatchback coupe fitted with a Chervolet 5.3-liter V8 engine rated at 227 HP. In total, the Bitter CD production faltered after 395 cars had been built, the 1973 Oil crisis led many potential owners to cancel their orders.
9 Isdera Imperator C108i - The Supercar Mercedes Nearly Built
Arguably more successful than the follow-up model, the Imperator remained in production for 10 years, selling just 30 cars. This makes it one of the rarest production sports cars in the world. The project started life as a Mercedes CW311 prototype.
Constructed on a tubular steel chassis clad in a lightweight fiberglass body, it received several mechanical updates over its lifespan. The last models featured an AMG sourced 6-liter V8 engine producing 390 HP and capable of a claimed 176mph.
8 Lotec C1000 - One-Off Special Commission
Starting life as a race car manufacturer before turning its attention to modifying Porsche and Mercedes road cars, Lotec's expertise would capture the attention of one wealthy oil baron to build a one-off supercar.
The resulting C1000 was completed in 1995 and equipped with a twin-turbocharged 5.6-liter Mercedes V8 producing 1000 HP which made it one of the most powerful and fastest production cars of all time with a claimed top speed of 266mph.
7 Melkus RS 2000 GTS - Elise Based Commemorative Racer
Based on one of the greatest sports cars of the 21st century, the Melkus RS 2000 GTS inherits the Elise's handling capabilities along with a healthy power boost, bringing total output to 350 HP.
The Elise-based sports car underwent extensive styling changes, adding gull-wing doors ensuring the RS 2000 GTS stands out from the standard car, as if there could be any doubt with a claimed top speed of 186mph. It was designed and built in low numbers to commemorate racing driver Heinz Melkus, with a planned production of 400 cars.
6 Weineck Cobra - Performance Dialled Up To 12
Right from the very first AC Cobra produced in 1962 the US-developed British-based sports car has never been slow, receiving a number of larger and more powerful engines over its life span.
That hasn't stopped Weineck engineering from turning the performance dial up past 11, all the way to 12, literally in this case, as they've equipped the original Shelby specification chassis with a monstrous V8 12.9-liter 1100 HP engine. Not one for the faint-hearted the rare Weineck blitzes past 60mph in 2.2-seconds and covers the quarter-mile in 8.8-seconds. Only 15 were built.
5 Gumpert Nathalie - Resurrected For Another Supercar
Relative newcomers to the automotive industry, Gumpert Automobil, made a huge impression in 2004 with the Apollo, one of the fastest and ugliest supercars of all time, only to file for bankruptcy in 2013.
Rising from the ashes, founder Roland Gumpert is back with a new supercar, the first to be designed around a hydrogen fuel cell power train. The Nathalie is scheduled to enter production in 2021, with production limited to 500 cars, each with four electric motors producing 536 HP combined. That's enough for a claimed top speed of 190mph.
4 Artega GT - Good, But The Rivals Were Better
The GT arrived in 2007 just one year after Artega's foundation, the first production car used a Golf VR6 engine tuned to deliver 300 HP sent to the wheels via a 6-speed DSG transmission, promising a top speed of 168mph.
In many ways, the Artega GT was the perfect sports car, well-built, reasonably priced, and based on a robust Volkswagen-sourced drive train. The GT should have been a bigger success. By far the biggest obstacle facing any new carmaker is competition, established rivals offered similar performance for less money, and in the end, Artega closed down after just 153 GT's were built.
3 YES! Roadster 3.2 Turbo - Great Concept, But Where Are They Now?
Taking the title of possibly the daftest name for a sports car, Young Engineers Sportscars Roadster (YES! Roadster) launched in 1999 with the more powerful and desirable second-generation cars following in 2006.
The hand-built low-volume sports car promised to deliver greater performance from a new 3.2-liter turbocharged V6 producing 355 HP with claims of reaching 60mph in 3.8-seconds and a top speed of 175mph. Since its foundation in 1999, the German-based carmaker has all but vanished from the press with only a handful of completed cars built.
2 Hartge H35 - The Ultimate M3, Briefly
The mighty E30 BMW M3 series arguably started the trend of powerful, compact sedans, promising gearheads the kind of performance normally associated with sports cars. However, the factory car is not the ultimate M3, that honor goes to German carmaker Hartge with their H35.
Factory specification cars made do with 197 HP, the H35 though, borrowed its engine from BMW's 5-series, a 3.5-liter naturally aspirated 6-cylinder tuned to deliver 300 HP. In reality, adding 133 HP didn't make a huge impact on performance, adding just 11mph to the maximum speed and shaving 0.6-seconds for the 0-60 time. Official production numbers are a little hazy, with a generally accepted number of 6 cars being built.
1 Wiesmann GT MF5 - The Fastest Wiesmann, For Now
If nothing else, the Wiesmann MF5 GT looks dramatic from every angle. Bulges and curves give it a sinister appearance, the sort of car a movie villain would drive. This is not just a visual statement though. Under the hood, a BMW-sourced 5-liter V10 produces 547 HP and a soundtrack that could wake the dead.
Continuing the performance theme, the Wiesmann MF5 utilizes a paddle controlled 6-speed automatic transmission to deliver perfectly timed shifts to hit 60mph in under 4-seconds. Until the planned MF6 arrives, the GT remains the most powerful model in the range, and with just 55 cars built, it's rare too.