The electrified SSC Tuatara will be equipped with AWD, with the first Stryker making its debut at Quail 2022.

Posted on May 27, 2022
Supercars
The electrified SSC Tuatara will be equipped with AWD, with the first Stryker making its debut at Quail 2022.

SSC is looking ahead to the electric age.

Earlier this month, after it was confirmed that the company's hypercar, the Tuatara, hit 295 mph, SSC CEO and founder Jerrod Shelby revealed in an interview with Motor Authority that an electrified Tuatara is in the works ...

The electrified model will be produced in small quantities and will not be part of the 125 Tuatara units (including 25 Tuatara Aggressor truck cars) that will be produced by the end of 2025.

Development has already begun, but Shelby would not discuss a production schedule, but said it is completely independent of the production schedule for the non-electric Tuatara.

Shelby stated that the electrified model will have an electric front hub motor and that the new version of the Tuatara will be all-wheel drive (the current model is rear wheel drive).

Shelby said that at this time it has not been decided whether the electrified model will bear the Tuatara nameplate.

"The electrification will make the car more substantial," Shelby said. Electrification is not for top speed, but to enhance other areas of vehicle dynamics, such as acceleration, tracking, and other low-speed characteristics.

Shelby also revealed that the first Tuatara Striker will be unveiled at The Quail in August. The Striker to be unveiled has been purchased by a celebrity, but Shelby would not yet comment on who the purchaser might be.

The Tuatara Stiker is a high-downforce version of the regular Tuatara and, unlike the standalone model, is essentially an upgraded body kit. Upgraded aerodynamics include a fixed rear wing that augments the Tuatara's active rear wing and an improved diffuser. The front features a new splitter design, dive planes, and six winged rockers on the sides.

The Striker model has 1,000 pounds of downforce at 160 mph; according to SSC, the standard Tuatara has 362 pounds of downforce at the same speed. 45.4% of the downforce is designed to be applied to the front axle and 54.6% to the rear.

Shelby did not comment on how many of the 125 Tuatara production slots have been sold to date.

SSC is also planning a new, larger production facility that will be operational around 2025. This facility will be used for a second model that Shelby described as Tuatara's "little brother." No location was mentioned, but it may be near the Richland, Washington facility where the Tuatara is manufactured.

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