Story By: MICHAEL HARLEY / HENNESSEY PERFORMANCE – SEALY, TX – Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE), the Texas-based hypercar manufacturer and high-performance vehicle creator, has been making fast cars, trucks, and SUVs faster since 1991.
Over the past 33 years, HPE has built a variety of ultra-powerful vehicles that have set numerous speed records in magazine shootouts and at ¼ mile, standing mile, and top speed events. With requests for Hennessey vehicles at an all-time high (over 1,100 vehicles have been delivered to clients worldwide since 2022), the company is focusing resources to meet the requirement.
Hennessey is announcing a new bespoke in-house department called “Hennessey Special Operations” (HSO) to build ultra-exclusive, ultra-high-horsepower vehicles for its most discerning customers. The HSO division will make only 15 to 20 vehicles per year, with potential customers applying via the unique Hennessey HSO website.
“Demand for our powerful vehicles over the past several years has been so strong that we had to shift from being a high-volume tuning company to more of a factory with assembly lines and all of the logistics that go with delivering over 500 vehicles per year,” said Founder & CEO, John Hennessey.
“The transition to becoming a manufacturer with a factory producing lots of vehicles meant that we had to shift some of our resources away from the high horsepower vehicles that have kept the Hennessey name in the automotive headlines for the past 33 years,” explains Hennessey. “We are happy to announce that we’ve created a new division within the company that allows us to build mega-powerful vehicles in small production runs. Taking my new Dodge Demon 170, removing the blower, adding a pair of turbos, and increasing power from 1,025 to 1,700 horsepower was exactly what we’ve been wanting to do.”
Hennessey’s ‘Demon 1700 Twin-Turbo’ is a comprehensive build with an all-new blueprinted motor and transmission (the factory-supercharged V8 from the Demon 170 will be shrink-wrapped and preserved for safekeeping). A pair of massive turbochargers provide boost, while a more robust powertrain ensures the maximum power goes to the pavement. Performance from the ‘Demon 1700 Twin Turbo’ will be astounding — burning E85 ethanol, the coupe will have a target ¼ mile time of 7.9 seconds @ 175 mph.
Production will be extremely limited – HSO will only build 12 ‘Demon 1700 Twin-Turbo’ models, each with a base price starting at about $200,000 (exclusive of donor Demon 170).