- Hennessey sold all 71 Blackbird build slots within four hours of its public unveiling at The Quail on August 19.
- Pricing starts at $2.5 million before taxes.
- It uses a new 6.2-liter naturally aspirated V8 targeting 800 to 850 hp, mated exclusively to a six-speed manual.
Hennessey Special Vehicles confirmed this week that it sold out every one of the 71 build slots for its new Blackbird hypercar, with the last cars gone within four hours of the model’s public unveiling at The Quail during Monterey Car Week on August 19.
As reported by SuperCarBlog, more than 60 of those slots were already spoken for before the wraps came off, and the handful that remained vanished almost as fast as the car itself claims to move. Hennessey says a wait list is now forming for buyers hoping for a future build.
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Source: Hennessey Special Vehicles
Hennessey Blackbird Price And Allocation Timeline
The Hennessey Blackbird hypercar specs and photos show pricing starting at $2.5 million before taxes, making it Hennessey’s third hypercar, after the Venom GT in 2010 and the Venom F5 in 2021. For a company built on turbocharged bragging rights, going naturally aspirated for the flagship is itself the twist.
Hennessey has not announced an expanded production run, so the 71 cars sold this week are, for now, all there will be. Customer deliveries are scheduled to begin between 2029 and 2030, after the current Venom F5 production run is complete, so the wait list forming today is a bet on a car buyers will not drive for years.
The manual-only approach lines up with a shift already underway inside Hennessey’s own lineup. The Hennessey Venom F5-M manual hypercar launched earlier in 2026, and its six-speed gearbox later spread across the wider F5 range. The Blackbird just makes that gearbox mandatory instead of optional.
Hennessey Blackbird interior
Photo by: Hennessey Special Vehicles
No Screens, No Turbo, No Problem
The Blackbird runs a new naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8, built together with Ilmor Engineering, targeting 800 to 850 horsepower and a redline above 9,000 rpm. Power goes back to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission, the only gearbox Hennessey offers on this car.
Hennessey quotes 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and a 220 mph top speed, backed by a carbon tub, full carbon-fiber body panels, adaptive suspension, and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, with a target weight under 3,000 pounds. Inside, there is no touchscreen at all, a design cue borrowed from the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane it is named after.
John Hennessey, the company’s founder and CEO, called the response “overwhelmingly positive,” crediting buyers “tired of overly complex, hybridized cars filled with screens, and lacking emotion.” That is a clear shot at screen-heavy hybrid rivals like the Czinger 21C Spyder hybrid hypercar, while more traditional internal-combustion megacars such as the Koenigsegg One:1 take a very different route with a high-output twin-turbo V8 and no hybrid system at all.
Motor1’s Take: The rapid sellout shows there is a clear audience for raw, driver-focused hypercars. Some buyers still prefer analogue engagement to tech-heavy alternatives, and that matters to collectors and niche makers as scarcity and a distinct driving character can create real market value.
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