Win a dashcam

Hennessey Performance Engineering is an American tuning house specializing in modifying sports and supercars from several brands like Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren, Chevrolet, Dodge, Cadillac, Lotus, Jeep, Ford, GMC, Lincoln and Lexus.

Established in 1991 by John Hennessey, their main facility is located west of Houston, Texas. This firm focuses on mechanical component modification for creating high-powered cars. Besides performance automobiles, they also tune sport utility vehicles such as Ford Raptors and Jeep Cherokees. They also work on luxury cars like Bentleys and muscle cars like Dodge Charger and Challenger.

Tuner School

In 2008, the Tuner School was founded by the company. It is a private institution dedicated to teach and train high performance vehicle tuner technicians. It is located at Lonestar Motorsports Park, near the Hennessey Performance headquarters. All instructors at this education facility are actual performance tuning mechanics.

Notable cars

Hennessey Venom GT

In 2010, Hennessey Performance revealed the Hennessey Venom GT, a modified Lotus Exige. It has an engine that generates 1,244 hp and weighs 1,244 kg. Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler purchased a Venom GT roadster for a reported $1,000,000. It is also the fastest street legal car in the world, with a speed of 270.49 mph. It does not hold the official record.

Hennessey Venom F5

In late 2014 to early 2015, Hennessey Performance will unveil the Hennessey Venom F5. It is powered by a turbocharged engine that produces 1400 hp.

VelociRaptor SUV

The Hennessey VelociRaptor SUV is a luxury off-road full-size SUV modified from the Ford SVT Raptor. The SUV is limited to 30 produced a year, however since its introduction over 400 versions have been made. It uses the same engine Ford uses for the pickup truck version. The second generation version is a Luxury off-road heavy-duty SUV modified from the 2015 Ford Super Duty Lariat Version, with design cues from the Ford Excursion.

As of 2015, the first generation model has been discontinued.

Hennessey CTS-V

The Hennessey CTS-V is a tuned 2016 Cadillac CTS-V that boasts 1000 horsepower.

Controversy

Hennessey has been the subject of numerous lawsuits and Better Business Bureau complaints throughout the years, with many BBB complaints left unresolved and, according to court records, many judgements entered against Hennessey. According to Car and Driver, a 2002 Dun & Bradstreet search had also turned up significant concern about Hennessey's financial footing. As of June 1, 2016 Hennessey Performance Engineering holds an "F" Rating from the BBB. On April 31, 2016 Jalopnik published an article outlining Hennessey's many customer service and potential fraud issues.