Record breaking cars

For just £1,250 you get a five-door city car with a 632cc engine sending 30bhp to the rear wheels

Adrian Hearn looks at the record breaking production cars – and reveals why it’s been a bad 12 months for the Bugatti Veyron’s automotive ego.

World’s most expensive car – Koenigsegg CCXR

The Swedish hypercar, which runs on environmentally-friendly biofuel and sends 1,018bhp to its rear wheels comes with a price tag £1,070,040 +VAT – making the £830,000 Bugatti Veyron and £800,000 Lamborghini Reventon look like bargains.

If you are lucky enough to have huge amounts of spare cash lying around Koenigsegg sell the 250mph+ CCXR with a five year warranty and servicing deal.

World’s cheapest car – Tata Nano

In January, little-known Indian carmaker Tata (pictured)– which is the only bidder left for the Jaguar and Land Rover brand – unveiled the world’s cheapest car, the Nano. For just £1,250 you get a five-door city car with a 632cc engine sending 30bhp to the rear wheels. The man behind the Nano, 70-year-old Ratan Tata said: “We have a people’s car, affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements, that is fuel efficient and low on emissions.”

World’s fastest car (top speed) – SSC Ultimate Aero TT

The American-built SSC Ultimate Aero TT – with 71-year-old Chuck Bigelow behind the wheel – stole the 253mph Bugatti Veyron’s thunder when it hit 257mph in Washington last year. It’s also the world’s most powerful production car, with the 6.2-litre twin turbocharged V8 engine chucking out a ludicrous 1,183bhp.

World’s fastest car (0-60mph) – Bugatti Veyron

While the Bugatti Veyron lost its title as the fastest, most powerful and most expensive car, it has kept its 0-60mph record of 2.48 seconds – holding off competition from the insane British-built duo of the Caparo T1 and Ultima GTR which will do the sprint in 2.5 and 2.6 seconds respectively.

World’s fastest 0-100-0mph – Ultima GTR

Leicester – home to football legend Gary Lineker, rock band Kasabian, the Attenborough brothers and the awesome Ultima GTR. With its 6.3-litre V8 engine, the Ultima GTR will accelerate from 0-100mph and back to zero in just 10.3 seconds.

World’s smallest car – Peel P50

Viewers of Top Gear were in hysterics recently when Jeremy Clarkson drove to (and through) the BBC in the Isle of Man built Peel P50. Built between 1962 and 1965, the four foot five inch single-seat car was fitted with a 49cc moped engine producing just 4.2bhp.

World’s heaviest car – Hummer H1

The mammoth military-based-but-road-legal Hummer H1 weighs an astonishing 3.68 tons. The 4.6 metre beast has a 6.5-litre engine producing 300bhp and 512lb/ft of pulling power.

World’s biggest selling car – Toyota Corolla

It may not have been the world’s most inspiring car, but the Toyota Corolla was incredibly popular shifting more than 32 million models from 1966 to 2007.

View our slide show of the record breaking cars