The unusual suspects

The unusual suspects

South African car culture is rich with popular performance names, with brands like BMW's M and Merc-AMG finding a second home on the southern tip of Africa. Although our nation's petrol-powered heart is a bridge too far for some brands, I wanted to see just how much we are missing out on. So, on the subject of quiet envy, I delved into the foreign and domestic realms of automotive performance houses to find some lesser-known gems.

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Let's begin with the obvious and focus on the American offerings first. Dodge and Chevrolet are excellent examples of brands with legs but no local presence. The likes of the Dodge Challengers and Chargers have graced social media and popular media, so we are well acquainted with these American brutes. However, there is another brand that joins the American muscle car world, and although it might look like a Mustang-meets-Charger hybrid, it's quite a potent machine. 

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Equus Bass 770 (US of A)

The brand is called Equus, and the car in question is the Bass 770 and it’s a manufacturer that draws inspiration from the American muscle cars that the world knows and loves. Driven by a desire to redefine the muscle car, its story began in 2015, and while it only has a couple of cars, these are works of Detroit-inspired art. A popular engine configuration, unsurprisingly, is an LS9 6.2-litre supercharged V8 that produces a powerful 477kW and enables a 0-100km/h time of 3.5 seconds. The style is clearly American with design cues from favourites like the Mustang, Charger, and Camaro.

Equus is also responsible for an arguably more impressive performance car that recreates the Corvette, and it is a work of art with massive power and eye-catching design. It is called the Throwback, and it produces 735kW and can rocket from 0-100 km/h in 2.6 seconds. Inspired by the C7 Corvette, it's clear that the LS DNA runs deep in this car. It can be tricky to recreate a legend, but Equus, along with its hand-built philosophy, is nothing short of inspiring, and its products are downright astonishing. 

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Rezvani Beast Alpha (US of A)

Another brand, hidden by the sheer complexity of the American automotive world, goes by the name of Rezvani, known for its doomsday road tanks, but its performance cherry on top is the Beast Alpha. Firstly, with a name like Beast Alpha, you are unlikely to come across a Kia Carnival competitor. In fact, the Beast Alpha is a gorgeous vehicle from the outside with a unique "sidewinder" door style and a driver's car at heart. Gone are the days of traditional straight-line American performance, where the emphasis was focused solely on the drag strip. This is where Rezvani steps in as a California-based company with more of a European mentality, and the Beast Alpha comes in two forms. The less powerful option comes with 398kW and a 0-100 time of 3.6 seconds, but the big brother Blackbird trim brings these figures up to 522kW and a 0-100km/h time of 3.0 seconds. 

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Cupra Formentor VZ5 (Spain)

Our next stop takes us to the land of history and motoring tradition. There are a few brands out of Europe that we don’t receive in SA and one that has had my interest piqued for a few years now. It goes by the name Cupra, and no, it's not the same as the SEAT Cupra we used to get, but rather a futuristic and distinctive performance brand that serves as a sister brand to SEAT, which is also part of the Volkswagen group. Cupra makes a selection of vehicles, and the one that tickles my fancy is the Formentor VZ5. This 5-cylinder estate not only looks unique but also lays down a decent amount of performance, from its 2.5-litre 5-cylinder engine, and the end result is 291kW and a rapid 0-100 time of 4.2 seconds. It’s a brand that is quietly creating stunningly modern cars and some seriously quick EV prototypes like the UrbanRebel.

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Skoda Octavia RS (Czechia)

Yet another European brand that you have likely heard of and one that was rumoured to join the SA market at one point is Skoda. It's a Czech automotive manufacturer that plays a key role in the international rally racing WRC2 scene. It’s a brand that celebrates its diverse production lineup, from fighter jets to cars, and has a rich and long-lasting heritage dating back to 1895 and one that began on two wheels. Nowadays Skoda is less exciting and likely no longer on your radar, as it's geared towards family production cars designed for Europe, but there is an interesting wagon that serves as the brand's range-topping sports car. It's called the Octavia RS and makes use of a 2.0-litre TSI, of VW origin, that produces 195kW and 370Nm. Not the most impressive figures I know, but it looks bold and will lay down a 0-100km/h time of 6.4 seconds. 

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Spartan (Australia)

On the other end of the global marketplace, the Aussies have established quite a reputation for roaring V8s and rubber-shredding burnouts, but unfortunately, the big haymaker from down under, Holden, departed from the automotive world in 2020. With that being said, there is another smaller manufacturer that takes to the track in lightweight style. It's called Spartan and offers a lightweight, incredibly agile, and rapidly fast car that takes the fight to the Italians whilst possessing a Honda heart. Its inspiration is found in the race cars of the 60s, and Spartan's ambition is to build a retro-inspired, minimalistic sports car designed to be driven hard. At the moment, it only makes one car, and don't ask how it's road legal, but it is. Under its carbon fibre body is a 2.4-litre supercharged and highly tweaked Honda engine, producing 338kW with the car weighing in at 700kg, thanks to its tubular chassis. It is a track instrument and nothing more. This little gremlin will go from 0-100km/h in 2.3 seconds and is loaded with the best performance parts from the factory floor. 

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VinFast VF8 (Vietnam)

Let's travel a little further north to Vietnam, a nation that I'm sure you were unaware produced relatively fast cars. The brand in question is called VinFast, and the car I would like to bring to your attention is the VF8. Producing 300kW and 620Nm from its two electric motors, it can do 0-100km/h in just over five seconds, but that’s pretty much where the thrills end. VinFast is a comparatively new brand that emerged on the scene in 2017, and it's also the first Vietnamese car brand to expand into the global market, as it is one that has the potential to grow despite the international media's mixed reviews on its current product lineup.

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Inferno Automobili (Mexico)

Up next, Mexico, and surprisingly this nation has produced its fair share of interesting sports cars, some of which are drop-dead gorgeous. Inferno Automobili is at the forefront of high performance from Mexico, and although there is an abundance of small supercar manufacturers around the world, the Inferno is an utterly stunning piece of cutting-edge engineering that you likely didn't know about. It comes in a couple of shapes and sizes and makes use of a twin-turbocharged V8 capable of producing 1,044kW and boasts a sub-three-second 0-100 time. But the element that makes this car even more impressive is its use of a zinc-aluminium-silver alloy in its structure, which is advertised to not only be strong but moderately stretchy too. I'm not sure if stretchy is a word I would like to associate with performance cars, but it's impressive nonetheless. It has featured in a couple of racing games over the years if the name does ring a few bells 

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Bailey (South Africa)

Lastly, I would like to bring this home to a brand we have in South Africa that you have most likely never heard of. Bailey Sports Racing Cars is a brand that takes its clients back in time with classic racing replicas. South Africa is no stranger to replica manufacturers, with Hi-Tech producing Shelbys of such high quality that Ford granted permission to produce them. But back to Bailey Sports, it has a knack for bringing iconic racing cars to life right here in South Africa and is known for its recreations of the Ford GT40 in the form of the GT1 and Bailey 40, the Porsche 917 called the Bailey 917, and the Ferrari 330 P4 called the Bailey P4. All are utterly stunning cars, designed to give owners the opportunity to drive the most iconic racing cars right here in SA without paying multi-million sums. Yes, this does draw away from the other brands mentioned above, but it's local, and these are iconic cars fuelled and inspired by a vision of icons meshed with the tracks we call home. Who says South Africa lacks automotive artistry?

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