Will McLaren’s US$2.3 million supercar see it overtake Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Ferrari?
All 106 three-seater, limited-edition hybrid Speedtails – with a top speed of 250mph – have sold out as the British firm’s offerings target high-end buyers
McLaren unveiled its latest supercar – the £1.75 million (US$2.3 million) limited-edition Speedtail, previously known by its BP23 code name – last Friday.
The all-new, three-seater “hyper-GT” is the latest model in McLaren’s Ultimate Series, the most expensive and exclusive line offered by the carmaker.
The P1 and Senna also belong to the Ultimate Series, while others you actually have a chance of seeing on the road, such as the 720S and the 570S, belong to the Super Series and Sport Series, respectively.
In addition to its big price tag and odd seating arrangement (more on that later), the Speedtail is an homage to the iconic McLaren F1, which held the production car speed record of 240 miles per hour (386km/h) from 1998 to 2004.
McLaren will make only 106 of them – a number that matches the F1’s production run – and they are already sold out, a McLaren spokeswoman said.
That response is similar to when McLaren debuted the US$1 million Senna, which the carmaker said sold out before it was formally announced.
For a company that sells fewer than 3,500 cars annually, the margins for such extreme cars remain considerable. (So does the waiting-time: Speedtail owners will not see the car delivered until 2020.)
Which is to say the strategy is working: the Speedtail is the first of 18 new cars or derivatives to be announced under McLaren’s “Track25” business plan – the company’s grab at an additional £200 million per year, financed from deposits taken from customers willing to buy such expensive, extreme cars
