Why 2020 supercars are destined to be the next icons – car pictures of the week
More hybridisation, turbocharging, increasing performance and tightening regulations. Did the 2020s stifle the supercar? Not one bit
Which was the supercar’s most significant decade? Throughout 2026 evo has been plotting the evolution of the automotive world’s poster car, starting with the Bentley Blower from the 1920s, the motorsport-inspired wild things of the 1960s, the wedges of the 1970s, the excesses of the 1980s, the slightly serious 1990s before the new millennium saw a new breed of supercars move the game on to unpredictable levels. In the December 2026 issue of evo we come to the end of our story, bringing together the half dozen examples of the most significant supercars of the present era.
Our collective includes models from the supercar establishment Ferrari and Lamborghini and recent incumbent McLaren. We’ve also called on Aston Martin, Porsche and Maserati, six brands that have all been represented throughout our series.
The 2020s saw the first implementation of hybrid power to series production supercars from Ferrari, McLaren and Lamborghini. Maranello was first to trickle its hybrid hypercar tech down to a series production model with the SF90, a car that was a technical triumph but less so to drive.
Unlike our two other Italian supercars, that are both evo Car of the Year champions. Maserati’s MC20 blew us away in 2022 with its Ferrari F40 character, seductive looks and explosive V6 twin-turbo engine. In a world that was becoming more digital, the Maserati was a breath of fresh analogue air. Lamborghini’s Revuelto went one further, blending analogue brilliance with 21st-century hybrid excellence to create the greatest supercar of the decade and the best car we drove in 2025. Few cars have left us spellbound like the big V12 Lamborghini.
While Ferrari accelerated its hybrid plans, McLaren was still going all in on turbocharged V8s and a slender kerb weight, with the 750S demonstrating that Woking’s addiction to speed was still untempered. Few supercars feel as pure and undiluted as the 750S and it will surely go down in the history books as one of the very best.
Porsche was early with the 918, to hybridise a hypercar but late to trickle electrification into its sports and supercars. Typical of Porsche it approached the technology in a very different way when applying it to its iconic 911. The t-hybrid system integrated into the current 992.2 Turbo S is there purely for performance efficiency. There’s no electric drive, no zero emissions targets. Rather, Porsche’s engineers used their hybrid learnings to maintain the 911 Turbo’s position as the do-everything supercar that never knows when it's beaten. 50 years on it still has what it takes to take on the supercar establishment and, in most cases, show it the true meaning of fast. Every garage should have a 911 Turbo.
Our final 2020’s supercar representative comes from Aston Martin in the guise of the DBS Superleggera 770 Ultimate, the final - and ultimate - incarnation of Aston Martin’s old-school approach to supercar baiting. Front-engined, rear-wheel drive and nearly 770bhp it was the most suitable of send-offs for this era of big-hearted Aston Martins with mighty engines. The current Vanquish has the guts to match the 770 but supercar duties have now been handed to the Valhalla and the DBS is the perfect send-off.
Shot over a week on the glorious roads of Snowdonia, our final chapter of the evo Supercars Eras was expertly captured by evo’s Aston Parrott. His expertise and photographic brilliance captured these marvelous cars being enjoyed in one of the world’s most amazing locations. A better setting for such a remarkable generation of supercars you couldn’t have wished for.
To read the full feature you can buy a copy of the December 2026 issue of evo from your local TG Jones, WHSmith or supermarket. Or order your copy from the evo shop.
