A decade or so ago, automotive experts created the word 'hypercar' to describe the highest-performing and most expensive road-legal supercars money can buy. Since then, various manufacturers have built several cars classified as hypercars - the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren Speedtail, Bugatti Chiron, Koenigsegg Jesko, and Porsche 918 Spyder are just a few of them.
Updated January 2023: While hypercars only end up with the rich, they boast new technologies that later trickle down to more affordable vehicles. The Lykan Hypersport is one of those models. This updated list highlights everything you didn't know about this impressive work of art.
Renowned manufacturers like Bugatti and McLaren build most hypercars, which is not surprising since they have decades of experience building similar cars. However, some hypercars come from automakers that most gearheads have never heard of. The Lykan Hypersport is a perfect example of this. W Motors, a Lebanese automaker established in 2012, developed the Lykan Hypersport. Let's explore ten awesome facts about the Lykan Hypersport most gearheads don't know.
10 First Supercar Made In The Middle East
The Middle East is famous for its oil-rich lands, rich culture, strong religious beliefs, delicious food, and love for the most expensive European supercars. While Middle Eastern people love to buy cars, they're not known for manufacturing them. In fact, most gearheads cannot name one Middle-East-based automaker.
However, that all changed in 2012 when Lebanese automotive entrepreneur Ralph R. Debbas established W Motors with the goal of developing high-performance luxury sports cars. W Motors' first car - the Lykan Hypersport - showed that the Middle East could also produce world-class sports cars.
9 An Intriguing Design
While a new company built the Lykan Hypersport, you couldn't tell just by looking at it. That's because it has a fantastic design that looks great from every angle. We love the light military theme created by its thick roof and layered body surfacing treatments that make it look like an armored vehicle.
We also love the wild 'suicide-swan' doors and the large rear fender that makes it look like a race car.
8 The Most Expensive Headlights Ever
Middle Eastern people love ostentatious design elements in cars and pay millions to have features not found in other cars. W Motors knows this, so they equipped the Lykan Hypersport with the most expensive headlights in any production car.
The Lykan Hypersport's headlights have titanium LED blades with 440 15-carat diamonds. Depending on the vehicle's color, buyers could opt for rubies, yellow diamonds, and sapphires.
7 An Upscale Interior
W Motors' goal was for the Lykan Hypersport to be quick, but it also wanted it to have a comfortable and luxurious interior. The car's interior features high-quality leather upholstery, while the steering wheel has thick racing Alcántara for maximum driver comfort. There's even gold stitching on the seats.
Buyers also get advanced tech in the interior. For instance, the vehicle has advanced holographic technology that allows drivers to interact with its interface without touching physical buttons or touchscreens.
6 It's Extremely Powerful
W Motors wanted the Lykan Hypersport to compete against the most powerful European sports cars. As such, they hired RUF Automobile - a renowned German car manufacturer - to build a special engine for the car.
RUF Automobile didn't disappoint. The Lykan Hypersport uses a 3.7-liter twin-turbo flat-six engine producing 780 ponies and 708 lb-ft of torque, making it fast.
5 Supercar-Worthy Performance Figures
The Lykan Hypersport has plenty of premium features, including a 780-hp engine paired with a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch PDK transmission, a limited-slip differential, MacPherson strut suspension, and high-performance Pirelli P Zeros tires.
Thanks to all these features, the Lykan Hypersport has insane performance figures. It takes just 2.7 seconds to accelerate to 60 mph and will reach a claimed top speed of 245 mph, enough to make it one of the fastest cars from the 2010s.
4 The Greatest Cop Car Of All Time
Cop cars are typically boring-looking sedans like the Ford Crown Victoria. However, some police precincts prefer something a bit more flashy, particularly those from the Middle East.
One of the few Lykan Hypersports was purchased by the Abu Dhabi Police. We do not know why the Abu Dhabi Police would need such a rare and expensive supercar, but if you're a criminal, you better hope you don't end up in a high-speed chase with them.
3 A Hollywood Icon
The Lykan Hypersport is one of the most iconic movie cars ever, having featured in the Fast and The Furious franchise. In the seventh Fast and The Furious film, the Lykan Hypersport is involved in a fantastic scene where Vin Diesel uses it to jump from one skyscraper to another.
Don't worry about the cars used in the film, though, as none of them were production models. W Motors built ten cars for the film - 9 of which ended up destroyed after filming, while one currently lives in the W Motors showroom.
2 A Rare Collectible
The Lykan Hypersport is a unicorn of a supercar. With only seven examples ever made, the Lykan Hypersport is one of the rarest sports cars ever.
Of the seven examples, six were available for purchase by customers, while one went to the Abu Dhabi Police, as mentioned earlier. Unless you're one of the six lucky owners, the only way you'll ever get to sit in the Lykan Hypersport is if you get caught by the Abu Dhabi Police after a high-speed chase.
1 Only Multimillionaires Can Afford It
The Lykan Hypersport is a rare hypercar with a superb design, a powerful engine, a 245-mph top speed, and diamonds in the headlights - we don't have to tell you it's expensive.
At launch, the Lykan Hypersport cost a whopping $3.4 million, making it the third most expensive production car at the time. We don't even want to imagine how much a collector would have to pay for it today.