Wait, Why Did Red Bull Make a Car?

Unless you follow Formula One, the energy drink brand’s latest move may have you scratching your head.

Published July 12, 2024

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Even if you don’t keep up with automotive news, you can probably name some of the world’s foremost producers of performance supercars. Ferrari. Mercedes-Benz. Aston Martin. Maybe Mclaren.

So you may be confused about headlines today touting a crazy-fast hypercar made by Red Bull, the energy drink brand.

So, what gives? Why did Red Bull make a car?

2025 Red Bull RB17

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Red Bull Is Arguably the Biggest Name in Racing Today

Anyone who follows Formula One racing knows that Red Bull has been a serious player in the motorsports space for some time. The Oracle Red Bull racing team has been the most dominant force in F1 over the past decade and a half, winning six Constructors’ championships and seven Drivers’ championships in that frame.

The team has won both titles each of the past two seasons and currently holds wide leads for both championships again this season as it aims for a threepeat. It has had more success in recent years than the more traditional automotive players mentioned at the top of this article — Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin and McLaren — all of whom currently field F1 teams.

red bull f1 car — For the last decade-and-a-half, Red Bull has been the most dominant force in Formula 1 racing.

Red Bull even owns a second F1 team, the RB Formula One Team, that’s seen mainly as a feeder for the main team. Red Bull Technologies, the engineering division of Red Bull Racing Group, designs and manufactures its own chassis and is seen as having arguably the best technology and engineering in the sport.

Red Bull’s racecars currently use Honda engines, but Red Bull Powertrains is developing its own brand-new engine from scratch in collaboration with Ford for the 2026 season.

All this is to say that while you may think of Red Bull as a producer of energy drinks and nothing more, the truth is that the Austrian corporation is involved in multiple businesses, and its automotive prowess has been growing for some time.

But Why a Red Bull Customer Car?

Today at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex, England, Red Bull unveiled its first-ever car for the public: the track-only RB17 hypercar.

The reasons why Red Bull made the car are pretty simple. By finally giving collectors the same sort of winning technology the company uses to dominate F1, Red Bull is offering an even greater connection to its fans — even if it’s just a handful of wealthy ones.

The RB17 has allowed Red Bull Advanced Technologies to showcase our engineering, design, and technical capabilities and solutions.
Rob Gray, Red Bull Advanced Technologies technical director

Not only that, but the RB17 serves as a halo product for Red Bull. Just as regular car brands build supercars to showcase what they’re capable of, so too is Red Bull. But in the latter’s case, doing so will not only showcase Red Bull Racing’s automotive engineering prowess but will also further legitimize the idea that Red Bull is a car brand and not just a maker of caffeinated beverages that dabbles in motorsports.

“The RB17 … has allowed Red Bull Advanced Technologies to showcase our engineering, design, and technical capabilities and solutions,” Red Bull Advanced Technologies technical director Rob Gray said in a statement. “We cannot wait to see the finished cars being enjoyed to the full on a racetrack by racing and automotive enthusiasts alike.”

The 2025 Red Bull RB17

Now that we’ve gone over a bit of the “why,” it’s time to get to the good stuff, which is Red Bull’s hypercar itself.

The RB17, as expected, is made almost entirely in-house by Red Bull using the same F1 technology seen in the cars driven to podium glory by Max Verstappen, and the company says the car is capable of pulling F1-equivalent lap times.

With the RB17 now out in the world, Red Bull has officially arrived as a car brand.

Oracle Red Bull Racing

The car was designed by Red Bull Racing Group’s chief technical officer, Adrian Newey, who is often cited as the greatest racing engineering mind today.

The RB17 has a two-seat carbon fiber monocoque chassis and is rear-wheel-drive. A six-speed sequential transmission is housed in a carbon fiber gearbox with no reverse gear — reverse travel is handled by an electric motor on the drivetrain.

A mid-mounted, mild hybrid, naturally aspirated 4.5L V10 engine — which is “stressed,” meaning it’s a structural element of the chassis itself — delivers 1,200 horsepower and redlines at an absurd 15,000 rpm. The car’s top speed is said to be over 217mph, and it creates nearly double its weight in downforce.

red bull hypercar in a wind tunnel — The RB17 is capable of producing a whopping 3,748 lbs. of downforce.

The RB17 is incredibly aerodynamic, with cutouts found throughout the streamlined body to keep weight down. Visually, its fighter jet-adjacent styling resembles the Aston Martin Valkyrie, a hypercar that Red Bull developed in collaboration with Aston back when the two brands were F1 partners.

The RB17 weighs just 900 kg (1,984 lbs), and since its power output is 1,216 PS (metric horsepower), that means the RB17 has a power-to-weight ratio of 0.74kg/PS, one of the highest ever seen on a production car and coming in well below the coveted 1:1 benchmark.

red bull hypercar closeup — A casual inspection of the RB17’s body shows the great lengths Red Bull went to keep weight down.

Although the RB17 is a production car, you’re not likely to see one on the road, for two reasons. The first is the car is not street-legal — it can only be driven on a track. Secondly, Red Bull is making just 50 examples of the RB17, all of which have already been sold for a rumored price of over $6 million.

Perhaps some day we’ll see a more attainable sports car from Red Bull, but that day is likely very far a way. At the very least, the RB17 is undeniable proof that Red Bull is a legitimate car maker now.

2025 Red Bull RB17

The first-ever customer car from Red Bull Racing, the RB17 hypercar brings F1 technology directly to the consumer with a carbon fiber monocoque chassis and a mid-mounted V10 engine cranking out 1,200 horsepower.