WHY THESE 8 CARS TOOK AN ETERNITY TO FINALLY LAUNCH
It typically takes around four years for a major automaker to develop and launch a new vehicle when starting completely from scratch. Electric vehicles, which have fewer mechanical components and rely on critical systems like batteries and motors often sourced from suppliers, can often be developed even faster, with some Chinese automakers today managing to bring new EVs to market in just two years. The rise of advanced digital tools has also accelerated vehicle development - particularly in testing and validation - where increasingly sophisticated simulations are replacing time-consuming physical trials.
Sometimes, though, automakers take a ridiculously long time to bring a vehicle to market, and we’ve listed eight such examples below. As you’ll see, these delays often occur when a car pushes the boundaries of performance, as was the case with the Bugatti Veyron, where the complexity of the engineering demanded years of refinement. Another common cause of setbacks is shifting requirements, such as a last-minute change to a critical component which can often delay development by a year or more.
The listed development timelines are based on the period between when an automaker first publicly acknowledges that a vehicle is in the works and when it finally reaches the market. In reality, the actual development process almost certainly began much earlier – often years before any official announcement was made. So, while the timelines listed here already seem extensive, the true development journeys of these cars were likely even longer. We list these cars from shortest to longest gestation periods.
Aston Martin Valkyrie
More Than Six Years
The Aston Martin Valkyrie first appeared in early 2016, initially under the code name Project AM-RB 001. It served as the pet project of leading Formula 1 race car designer Adrian Newey, who worked for Red Bull Racing at the time (he's now at Aston Martin). Aston Martin also acted as a key sponsor of Red Bull and initially relied on some of the team's engineers for early development of the Valkyrie. A concept unveiled by mid-2016 promised to evolve into a production model within two years.
Development delays soon emerged as the realities of launching such an extreme model came to the fore, not to mention pandemic shutdowns. Clashes also arose between Newey, who wanted the car to remain extreme, and Aston Martin's design team, who wanted the car to be more usable and offer a degree of luxury. Aston Martin and Red Bull split in 2020, as the former set out to establish its own F1 team, though both parties agreed to continue working on the Valkyrie, and the first deliveries commenced in early 2022.
Nissan GT-R
More Than Six Years
Nissan used the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show to present its first concept for the R35-generation GT-R, and in the process confirm its intentions to launch a production model, this time aimed at a worldwide audience. The R34-generation Skyline GT-R was still in production at this point but was due to bow out the following year and many fans expected that the R35 would arrive shortly after that.
The world was left waiting, though, as the new version of Godzilla would only debut in 2007, with deliveries starting early the following year. One of the main reasons for the long gestation was a late decision to swap from an original plan to use manual and conventional automatic transmissions to instead exclusively use a dual-clutch automatic, which was relatively new technology at the time. Nissan had just narrowly escaped bankruptcy and was proceeding cautiously to avoid any costly mistakes.
Mazda MX-5 Miata (First Generation)
More Than Seven Years
The original NA Mazda MX-5 Miata made its debut at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show, but the start of its development goes back much further – to the early 1980s – when Mazda began exploring the idea of a small, lightweight, and affordable roadster inspired by iconic British roadsters of the 1960s, such as the Lotus Elan. Because of the high standards Mazda set for the car, including a curb weight of close to 2,000 pounds, and the need to develop a new platform from scratch, development took much longer than expected.
Tom Matano, the father of the MX-5, who passed away in September, put together the first sketches around 1984, and the first prototypes were being tested on the road by the following year. The final design, featuring the iconic pop-up headlights, was locked in around 1986, and prototype testing was finally signed off in 1988, or one year before the debut. Every detail, from the suspension tuning, engine selection, weight distribution, and ergonomics, was carefully iterated, which is why development was relatively slow but ultimately successful.
Mercedes-AMG One
More Than Seven Years
Mercedes-AMG first announced plans for a road-going hypercar packing Formula 1 technology in 2016 and followed up with the reveal of the Project One concept car a year later at the Frankfurt Auto Show. However, the first customer One hypercar wouldn't be delivered until the start of 2023. Although AMG was initially confident that it could get the car's F1 engine to meet the certification and rigours demanded of a road car, the reality, especially when it came to emissions, proved much more difficult than expected.
It didn't help that the EU changed its emissions rules midway through the car's development, which was one of the main reasons for the stretched development time. Tight emissions rules were also the reason Mercedes canceled plans to offer the One in the US. The automaker said it would have had to compromise performance to certify the car for this market.
Toyota Supra (Fifth Generation)
More Than Seven Years
Fans of the Toyota Supra had been clamoring for almost a decade for their favorite nameplate to return when Toyota and BMW surprised the world in mid-2012 by announcing plans to jointly develop a platform for future sports cars from their respective brands. The two companies then went quiet until Toyota, two years later, unveiled the FT-1 Concept. While the automaker didn’t expressly state that the concept previewed a new fifth-generation Supra, rumors swirled that a new Supra was in the works.
However, Supra fans had to wait another five years for the fifth-generation car to debut. Part of the delay stemmed from Toyota’s original plan to develop its own inline-six engine. The realities of creating a new engine from scratch for what would always be a niche product led the automaker to borrow one from BMW instead. Another factor was that BMW took the lead in developing the platform, using the architecture for its latest Z4. Toyota waited until it could contribute its own engineering input, and as a result, the Supra launched a year after its Z4 sibling in 2019.
Bugatti Veyron
More Than Eight Years
In 1997, Volkswagen Group's chairman at the time, Ferdinand Piëch, was riding a Shinkansen train between Tokyo and Nagoya when he came up with the idea of an 18-cylinder engine, composed of three Volkswagen V6 blocks strung together. It displaced 6.25 liters and was designed to produce around 550 horsepower, and the idea behind it was to use it in a world-beating supercar. The supercar was initially to be sold under the Bentley brand, but Piëch wanted something even more exclusive. In 1998, VW Group acquired Bugatti, which had just suffered a failed revival under Italian businessman Romano Artioli.
A series of concepts showing the evolution of the supercar's design were then rolled out, starting with the EB 118 at the 1998 Paris Auto Show, which actually packed the 18-cylinder engine. The final EB 18/4 Veyron concept was shown in 1999, but deliveries of the production Veyron wouldn’t start until 2005. Piëch pushed for more than 1,000 hp, measured in metric figures, as well as a record-breaking top speed, which understandably led to a longer gestation. The engineers also had to ditch the original 18-cylinder engine in favor of the now-famous quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W16.
Acura NSX (Second Generation)
More Than Nine Years
The second-generation Acura NSX debuted at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show and started deliveries the following year, nine years after the automaker first announced plans for the car. Originally, Acura planned a very different design than the one we got. The automaker intended to use a V10 mounted up front to power all four wheels. There was even a concept, the Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept, which was unveiled at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. The concept wasn't well received, mainly because it represented such a radical departure from the original NSX, but Acura pressed on and was spotted testing prototypes at the Nürburgring and other locations.
The global financial crisis then hit, and parent Honda put the project on hold, along with other cost-cutting measures, including selling its Formula 1 team. The NSX project was eventually revived, or rebooted, to be more accurate. Out went the V10, replaced by a hybrid setup with a mid-mounted V6 and a trio of electric motors. A new design emerged, first previewed with a concept at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, and it then took four more years before the car arrived in showrooms. Interestingly, the original design Acura planned was revived and used for a race car known as the HSV-010 GT, which competed in Japan's Super GT touring car series.
Lexus LFA
More Than 10 Years
Much like what the Bugatti Veyron was for the Volkswagen Group, the Lexus LFA showcased what Lexus and its Toyota parent could achieve when engineers were left completely unbridled. Development began in 2000 with a small team led by Toyota's chief engineer at the time, Toshio Asahi. The first prototype was built in 2003 and entered public view the next year when Lexus rolled it out for testing at Germany's Nürburgring racetrack. The original LF-A concept then appeared at the 2005 Detroit Auto Show, where Lexus announced its intentions to launch a supercar with more than 500 horsepower and the ability to reach close to 200 mph.
Testing of more advanced prototypes followed, including entering some of them in endurance races at the Nürburgring. The production model finally debuted at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, but deliveries did not start for another year. In addition to ensuring the car was just right, Toyota's need to develop numerous new production methods led to the lengthy gestation. This included creating a complex mechanical loom used to weave some of the car's carbon-fiber components.
2025-10-13T03:39:45ZSources: Aston Martin, Acura, Bugatti, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota
