Other Vehicles

Hennessey’s New Supercar Follows a Luxury Trend that We Hope GM is Watching

Aug 4, 2026

3492

Hennessey's New Supercar Follows a Luxury Trend that Ee Hope GM is Watching

Photo Credits: Hennessey Performance Engineering

Divisive (seriously, just check the comments whenever we mention the name) Texas super tuner and occasional small-batch car manufacturer, Hennessey, unveiled its latest project on August 3rd. Dubbed “Blackbird” in honor of the legendary Lockheed SR-71 strategic reconnaissance aircraft, the latest solo-effort from Hennessey will center around one thing: ultimate driver engagement and, fittingly, just 71 will be built.

This driver-first mantra marks a significant break from the firm’s previous number-chasing work in the Venom GT – say what you want about John Hennessey, but the man’s got style, who else saw the beautiful simplicity of the Lotus Exige and said, “to be complete, this car needs a twin-turbo LS7 instead of that Camry V6,” then followed through and made it happen – and F5 that were built to take on Bugatti in a, really long, straight line to 300+ MPH.

Hennessey's New Supercar Follows a Luxury Trend that we Hope GM is Watching

The Earth-bound Blackbird, Hennessey claims, will still be capable of hitting a substantial 220 MPH, but it’s an entirely new breed; a driver’s car. Power comes from a Chevy-based 6.2L V8 developed in conjunction with the folks behind the Bow-Tie’s current IndyCar power units, Ilmor Engineering. While specs haven’t been finalized at this point, the heavily reworked Small-Block is said to make in excess of 800 HP while remaining naturally aspirated and revving to 9,000 RPM, with no complex hybridization, and possibly a new DOHC valvetrain. As awesome as that sounds, the engine isn’t the part we hope GM is watching.

Nor are we looking at the real, and spectacular – sorry, Ferrari – mechanical clutch and six-speed gated manual gearbox. That’s been on our wish list since the debut of the mid-engine Corvette, and, along with our cronies, we’ve made that pretty clear to The General, so they’re well aware of Corvette Nation’s deep yearning for a new stick shift.

No, what we really hope to see GM, and the rest of the industry, clue into, is what Hennessey left out of the Blackbird. Again, following the lead of the ultra-fast but also ultra-exclusive and luxurious Bugatti, Hennessey’s newest creation has completely shunned interior screens and opted for the timelessness of analog gauges and the bare minimum of buttons.

Since flat-screen TVs debuted in the late 1990s, consumers have been conditioned to equate screen size with desirability. Once big TV panels became commonplace in people’s homes, personal devices took the screen baton and ran with it. Eventually this bled into the automotive sector, where newcomer Tesla led the charge and everyone from GM and Ram to Mercedes-Maybach (the only way to still get an S-Class with a V12!) started jockeying for digital square inch supremacy.

Bugatti was the first to figure out what the fabulously wealthy already knew: a $10 Chinese LCD was never luxurious, but now that they’re in every KIA, they’ve completely lost their luster; just like the 55-inch and bigger TV’s that used to play a central role in cul-de-sac one-upmanship, once everyone had one. The other core problem with adding more visual tech to cars is that no matter a screen’s resolution, it will eventually look as dated as the C4 Corvette’s once-groundbreaking digital displays in 2026… in the unlikely event that it lasts long enough to date itself.

With rumors flying about the C9’s arrival being closer than we think, here’s hoping that when it debuts, it does so with fewer screens. Oh, and we’ll take that manual transmission, while they’re at it! As for the Blackbird, look for its official unveiling at Monterey Car Week’s “The Quail” on August 14th. Hennessey says production will commence for the 2029 model year – which could coincide with the earliest dates we’ve heard for C9 production – with a base price of $2.5 million after they call a wrap on the Venom F5 in ’28.

Source:
caranddriver.com

Subscribe Now:

5 COMMENTS

JWW Aug 5, 2026 At 4:08 am

The ‘RICH’ just keep on keeping ON.
Michael J. Genzale Aug 5, 2026 At 8:45 am

A de-contentded C8 dropping weight and price! Would be cool. BUT. in reality are there enough enthusiasts to justify building it?
I’d buy one. Still don’t understand why a C8 weighs more than my C7.
No torque tube, front to back exhaust plumbing and the weight saving of a transaxle instead of a seperate transmission/ differential.
W+P Aug 5, 2026 At 9:09 am

Interesting concept, but IMO the design does not echo the SR-71 at all, save for the silly canted tail fins. In fact it is ugly and doubtful has much aerodynamic moxie.
IPD Aug 5, 2026 At 10:56 am

A car with a multi-million-dollar price tag can justify bespoke analog gauges.

My beef with screens isn’t that they exist. It’s that some functions should always remain on physical controls. And as of currently–truly customizable gauge cluster screens still aren’t a thing. At most, you can simply select from a few canned options–and that’s it. You can’t even select colors (eg. I want my Tach to be linear and green below redline, instead of white below redline).

I should have the option to display all kinds of readouts from EGT to oil pressure to voltmeter–on my display. With the choice of round, linear, digital-numeric, or other readout styles. But instead of designing the system with “future patches/programming display updates” in mind–every MFG treats it like a single-shot, fire & forget device. The lack of modularity and flexibility is what kills things–not the choice of a screen for the gauge cluster.
Andy Authers Aug 5, 2026 At 11:40 am

Hennessey is bad. They rip-off customers – look it up!; Don’t believe anything they say.