These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

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These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

Much of the '80s and '90s are littered with the bones of failed Porsche and Ferrari pretenders with a dream. These were the ones that faded too
quickly.
By Adam IsmailYesterday 9:30AM Comments (38) Alerts

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 These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

START SLIDESHOW

Jiotto Caspita
Image: Dome Co. Ltd.

For however many companies you think turned up out of nowhere with the dream to
build a supercar, there were always more. And they’re easy to forget, especially
today, when cynicism has never run more rampant.
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 But These
we shouldn’t leave10
Are the them behind!
Failed Their failure
Supercar Makerswas due
Thatto Deserved
circumstance, perhaps
Better
mismanagement, but not because they had bad ideas — not universally, anyway. It’s
for that reason that we’re going to give 10 of these once plucky upstarts their due
today, in the time-honored tradition of a slideshow. And because there will assuredly
be plenty more that we won’t get to recognize here, why not leave a comment telling
us what other bygone brands deserve a place on our list of could’ves and should’ves?

Start slideshow
2 / 12 List slides Dome List slides

Dome

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 These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

Dome Zero
Image: Dome Co. Ltd.
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 The These
brainchild
Areofthe
Dome
10founder
Failed Minoru Hayashi,
Supercar Makerswho That
wanted to both enter
Deserved the 24
Better
Hours of Le Mans and sell a roadgoing version of his racing machines, the Dome
Zero emerged at the 1978 Geneva Motor Show and immediately dazzled the public.
Unfortunately, Dome was unable to certify the Zero for Japanese roads, and so the
car never saw series production. Neither did the Jiotto Caspita, the slippery supercar
in the previous slide, which was also Hayashi’s creation. Pour one out for the best
ones; they never make it.

Games it appears in: The Dome Zero appeared in Gran Turismo 4, 5 and 6, as
well as Sega GT 2002 and Online and Auto Modellista. Meanwhile, the original
Subaru flat-12 version of the Jiotto Caspita also appeared in Sega GT 2002/Online,
while the Judd V10-powered one landed in Auto Modellista. What I’d give to drive a
meticulously recreated Caspita in GT7.

3 / 12 List slides Lister List slides

Lister

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 These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

Lister Storm
Image: Lister

Lister is technically still around today, tuning Jaguars to be even more raunchy than
they already are. But back in the ’90s, the British company stuffed the seven-liter
V12 out of the Jaguar XJR-9 Group C prototype
Previous 1 / 12 in this tight little package — even
Next
 more impressive,
These Are theas the
10Storm was
Failed technicallyMakers
Supercar a four-seater
That—Deserved
and sent it Better
racing.
Lister also built four road cars before that dream faded, and three are said to survive
today.

Games it appears in: Because the Lister Storm was a race car as well as a road car
— and a moderately successful one at that — it ended up landing in a number of
motorsport-themed games. Those include the old Simbin GTR titles, Gran Turismo
2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, Total Immersion Racing and World Driver Championship. As for
the road version, you’ll only find that one in GT2.

4 / 12 List slides Vector List slides

Vector

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 These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

Vector M12
Image: Vector Motors

For all the attention the Vector W8 gets — and I’m not going to say it doesn’t deserve
it — I’ve always been a little fond of the styling of the W8's swoopier sequel, the M12.
Unfortunately
Previous the M12 is associated with a 1painful
/ 12 chapter in the Vector story,
Next
 coming afterAre
These company founder
the 10 FailedGerald Wiegert
Supercar was fired
Makers as part
That of a hostile
Deserved takeover
Better
by Megatech. The M12 was heavily based on the Lamborghini Diablo — Megatech
owned them, too — and seemingly hated by everyone who ever got behind the wheel
of one. Imagine what Vector could have achieved with more money and less drama.

Games it appears in: Somehow, the Vector W8 and M12 only appear in GT2 — a
haven for forgotten ’90s sports cars, now that I think about it — and a racing version
of the M12 can be driven in Image Space’s Sports Car GT.

5 / 12 List slides Bizzarrini List slides

Bizzarrini

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 These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

Bizzarrini Strada 5300

Image: Bizzarrini

Let’s go back a little further, shall we? Ex-Ferrari and Iso engineer Giotto Bizzarrini’s
automaker bearing his own name lasted just five years before filing bankruptcy. In
that Previous
time, however, Bizzarrini produced some
1 / 12of the most beautiful sports cars of all
Next
 time,These
including
Arethe
theStrada 5300 seen
10 Failed above, which
Supercar Makersbroadly
Thatshared its design
Deserved with the
Better
Iso Grifo. The long hood concealed a Chevy 327 small-block V8, though you’d never
suspect as much in pictures.

Games it appears in: I’m pretty sure none. Somebody get on that!

6 / 12 List slides Cizeta List slides

Cizeta

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 These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

Cizeta V16T
Image: Cizeta

The poster child of ’80s vaporwave, Cizeta founder Claudio Zampolli was trying to
resurrect this striking wedge all the way up until his death a year ago. Supposedly a
baker’s dozen examples of the transverse-V16-powered,
Previous 1 / 12 quad-pop-up-headlighted
Next
 Bizarro-world
These Are Diablo exist
the 10 in the wild.
Failed ShouldMakers
Supercar you happen
Thatupon a chance Better
Deserved meeting
with “Father of Disco” Giorgio Moroder, it’s probably best not to ask him about it.

Games it appears in: Gran Turismo 4 and 5 feature the V16T, but you really want
to drive it in GT6, since it was recreated in stunning detail with a full interior for that
game. That makes it ripe for a return in GT7, if we’re lucky.

7 / 12 List slides Yamaha List slides

Yamaha

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 These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

Yamaha OX99-11
Image: Yamaha

While Yamaha definitely still exists and makes motorcycles, electric motors and — I
don’t know, keyboards — it never made good on the OX99-11, a concept built during
the supercar
Previous boom of the early-’90s with tandem
1 / 12 seating and an F1-derived chassis.
Next
 The These
company attempted
Are the 10 to partner
Failed with a U.K.
Supercar design firm
Makers ThattoDeserved
get it produced in
Better
modest numbers, but disagreements and a worsening Japanese economy caused the
project to be shelved.

Games it appears in: Nothing to report here either I’m afraid, although
considering three were built and presumably still exist, you’d think that the OX99-11
would turn up in some game.

8 / 12 List slides Venturi List slides

Venturi

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 These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

Venturi 300 Atlantique

Image: Venturi

Venturi, too, is a name still making the rounds in 2022, as the Monégasque brand
runs a Formula E team and apparently partakes in a range of world record attempts
thesePrevious
days. It’s in a very different place than
1 / it
12was in the ’90s when it produced
Nextcars
 like These
the 300 Are
Atlantique
the 10and 400 GT,
Failed the latterMakers
Supercar of whichThat
contested the BPRBetter
Deserved Global GT
Series, taking on the likes of the Ferrari F40 GTE and Porsche 911 GT2.

Games it appears in: Both the 300 Atlantique and 400 GT featured in GT2 and
Test Drive 6, a game that immortalized some of the coolest limited-production cars
of the ’90s with the most tragic, inaccurate 3D models of all time.

9 / 12 List slides Aixam List slides

Aixam

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 These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

Aixam Mega Track

Image: Aixam

It wasn’t long ago I penned an ode to the Aixam Mega Track, calling it the “only good
crossover.” It’s a claim I stand by, because just look at it. Aixam, a French producer
of microcars,
Previous saw the world as it was and said
1 / 12“why?” The result of its navel gazing
Next
 was These
a larger-than-you-could-fathom, high-riding,
Are the 10 Failed Supercar Mercedes-V12-wielding
Makers half-
That Deserved Better
cruiser, half all-terrain terror. That’s a lot of hyphens, and I think I’ve made my case.
Nobody seems to know how many were built.

Games it appears in: Nope.

10 / 12 List slides Lotec List slides

Lotec

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 These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

Lotec C1000
Image: RK Motors

I tend to deal in obscure supercars and even Lotec remains a mystery to me. This
here is the C1000, which pretty much looks like a Pagani Zonda if the Zonda was
penned during the waning years of the Reagan
Previous 1 / 12 administration. Like the Zonda, the
Next
 C1000 employed
These Mercedes
Are the power.
10 Failed Exactly one
Supercar was built,
Makers Thatfor aDeserved
businessman from the
Better
United Arab Emirates. After that, the company delivered a few more one-offs and
even briefly tried to market a car called the Sirius, which I’d always seen and thought
was an early Koenigsegg. It wasn’t.

Games it appears in: You’re never going to believe this, but there aren’t any.

11 / 12 List slides Isdera List slides

Isdera

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 These Are the 10 Failed Supercar Makers That Deserved Better

Isdera Imperator 108i

Image: Isdera

Finally, we get to the brand that inspired this list; the one which, if not for editor
supervision, I would have placed here four more times without a second thought.
Eberhard Schulz was an ex-Porsche engineer
Previous who left Stuttgart for a job at
1 / 12 Next
 coachbuilder
These Areb&bthe
in the
10late ’70s.Supercar
Failed During his Makers
time there, he partnered
That Deserved with
Better
Mercedes-Benz to design the CW 311 concept: a gorgeous, forward-thinking mid-
engined coupe with gullwing doors, harkening back to the Silver Arrows’ past. When
Mercedes didn’t want to produce the CW 311, he decided to do it himself under the
brand Isdera — a pseudo-acronym that, when translated from German, spells out
“Engineering Company for Styling, Design and Racing.”

After the Imperator 108i (above) and Spyder 033i, Schulz set out to design a totally
new flagship, one that was intended to inform a Le Mans motorsport program. But
the company lost funding, and no more than one Commedatore 112i was ever made.
It recently sold, and last summer I recall hearing that the car was turning up at
Radwood-style events across the country. Isdera too still exists, albeit in a sense; the
company partnered with Chinese startup WM Motors a few years back to fund the
development of a handsome, if bland electric grand tourer.

Games it appears in: Just one, but it’s a biggie: Need For Speed II, where the
Commedatore appears alongside other greats of the period, including the McLaren
F1, Italdesign Calà and Ford GT90. That’s esteemed company.

12 / 12 List slides List slides

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