All Blown Up: Every Supercharged Car and SUV Available for 2020
As forced induction becomes the norm, supercharging remains outside of it.
With ever-tightening fuel-economy standards clashing with consumers' desire for ever more horsepower, automakers have turned to forced induction—artificially stuffing more air into the engine—to extract more power from smaller-displacement—and thus ostensibly more efficient—engines. This has driven the proliferation of ever-shrinking engines with turbocharger; when trundling at normal speeds, a small turbocharged engine sips fuel like, well, a small engine, but when power is needed at higher rpm, the turbo spools up and delivers more air and enough "bang" to forget all about the displacement. Supercharging, the other primary form of forced induction, mostly skips the fuel-economy play for raw power, and solves turbos' low-rpm power lag with instant-on air supply for the engine's intake. Both are fun, but there's little else that rivals the punch of a supercharger. Interested? Read on for the supercharged cars you can buy today:
0:00 / 0:00
Chevrolet | Camaro ZL1For its top-of-the-line Camaro ZL1, Chevrolet is still relying on a supercharger to boost its 6.2-liter small-block V-8 to 650 horsepower. And what about the C8 Corvette? As we write this, Chevrolet is still in the process of launching the Stingray and isn't ready to talk about the go-faster versions. Looking at the engine bay—not to mention Corvette history—we're pretty sure the Corvette will turn to an engine-driven blower for more power, although it's possible the Vette could go turbo.
Dodge | Challenger Hellcat, Charger HellcatThe Dodge Boys use a supercharger to boost their 6.2-liter V-8 to tire-melting Hellcat levels. The Challenger Hellcat can be had in 717- and 797-hp Redeye versions, while the Charger Hellcat offers 707 and 717 horsepower in the Daytona 50th Anniversary Edition.
Ford | Mustang Shelby GT500With Ford's EcoBoost line of engines finding their way into nearly every product the automaker builds, one could make a case that the blue oval has embraced turbocharging earlier and to a greater degree than its key competitors. However, for the top-of-the-line Mustang Shelby GT500, it's supercharging all the way. The blower boosts the GT500's 5.2-liter V-8 to 760 horsepower, enough to carry it to an electronically-limited top speed of 180 mph.
