Huge interest in super cars
Posted on 16 December, 2013
Kiwi race-car fans have been descending on the new McLaren dealership in Auckland, with all complied MP4 stock selling out after the two-night launch – an event reported by Autofile Online.
The Grey Lynn showroom, close to its parent company the Giltrap Group, will be making the first deliveries this festive period. Initially, McLaren’s offering in the City of Sails is the MP4-12C in spider and tin-top form. Then there’s the special-edition 50 12C to celebrate the marque’s half-century anniversary, and the P1 hypercar, which has a UK price-tag of Britain is £850,000 – or NZ$1.7 million. Its local pricing is still to be unveiled. Mike Flewitt, chief executive officer of McLaren Automotive, describes the car as “incredibly special” with it joining those to have lapped Germany’s Nurburgring Nordschleife in less than seven minutes. Also, the P13 is expected to be revealed in the early half of next year as the entry point to the range, sitting below the 12C and P1 in size, price, and performance. The engine is expected to be a development of the 3.8-litre, twin-turbocharged V8 mounted amidships in the 12C and P1. While supercars have tended to be trickier drives, Flewitt says that’s not the case with the 12C, which has variable controls for handling and for powertrain. In normal mode it can be driven as an automatic through cities and on motorways. By using the paddles on the open road, the engine settings can be used to drive it properly. Autofile reported from one of the launch events on December 4 the marque had already sold eight vehicles, including two P1s, with another eight on order. Flewitt adds that one of the main reasons for McLaren Automotive to now be represented on these shores is the Giltraps, who “share a passion and vision the same as ours, and we love the way this company treats customers”. Sir Colin Giltrap adds: “It’s a great privilege to be involved in the continuation of the McLaren story in New Zealand. Bruce McLaren was someone I knew and, throughout the 1990s, the Giltrap Group was instrumental in the importation of two McLaren F1 road cars. “McLaren was the quintessential New Zealand pioneer with a vision of combining sportsmanship with solid engineering and technical expertise. It’s honour for the Giltrap name to bring this range of ground-breaking cars back to the founder’s home country.”
