Team-BHP - India gets its first Mclarens: 570S, 570S Spider & a few 720S

Quote:

Originally Posted by dipen (Post 4415894)

Keeping the billionaire owner quotient seperate, the 540c makes a lot of sense considering its roughly 40-50L on-road cheaper than than the 570s with nearly identifical kit and it is a good number of suitcases lesser than the 720S.

Plus the fun quotient on the 540c is highly spoken for. Looks heavenly like a full bodied supercar. Gets you in the super car league for way lesser than the 488 and 50L+ less than than the Huracan.

I would say, go for it than a R8 at the same price.

I didn't say it wasn't fun, I don't doubt the traits of any McLaren. I'm a big fan of the brand, but press reviews aside, the ownership reviews of the 540 hasn't been all that great as far as I know.

You might be familiar with a famous YouTuber who sold his brand new 540C for a manual 360 Modena, because apparently the car just lacks a sense of occasion, in his opinion. You're held back from speccing a lot of options on the car as well.

To give an example, how the Boxster always felt like something you'd buy if you cannot afford a 911, even though the Boxster is an exceptionally good sports car in its own right.

The 570S just is the best the Sports Series platform can offer (for the time being at least, with the new hardcore version on the horizon rumored to house the 4.0L from the 720S!!), or a 570GT of you wanna 'GT' it and since money wasn't much of a factor in this case only I mentioned the billionaire bit.

Well, I guess this debate is now obsolete anyway since the man did go for a 570 and a Spider at that! clap:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ///RMan (Post 4416384)

The car which has been just delivered in Mumbai is a 570S Spider apparently and not a 540C as thought of earlier. Awaiting some pictures to confirm the same :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canned Heat (Post 4416386)

Here it is... The 570s spider.

Now that's more like it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by S2!!! (Post 4416415)

Just spotted the 570s in Mumbai. The owner was enjoying this drop-top McLaren. Definitely a head turner. clap: Although the sound was a bit underwhelming to be honest.

It was evident from the first picture that surfaced of the car, which was from the rear that it had standard exhausts. I believe, he could just retrofit the factory Sports or Race exhausts should he wish.

McLaren should just bite the bullet and enter the Indian market through the official route now and not do the stepfatherly assign-an-importer thing which Ferrari did. It should come now with all guns blazing into a market where its competitors like Lamborghini and Ferrari aren't that old anyway. Right now it enjoys a fantastic brand exclusivity which would drive sales on that basis itself. Lots of McLaren 'firsts' to happen. First in Calcutta, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Shimla, Ghatkopar, Ludhiana Supercar Club, first blue 570GT etc.

On top of that, if they can offer actual cars instead of snobbery (Ferrari) they can create a loyal customer base. China is not going to be pulling sales growth for luxury car makers forever...

Quote:

Originally Posted by avishar (Post 4417045)

Realistically unlikely to happen, truth be told. McLaren only have 8 dealerships across the UK, compared to almost double that from the folks in Maranello. It's a very small dealer network comparatively. Having one dealership for the entirety of India, sure. Maybe even 2. But to have 5 dealerships when the entire country's sales target is less than my local Mac dealer's monthly number is... Probably not going to happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by avishar (Post 4417045)

Lots of McLaren 'firsts' to happen. First in Calcutta, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Shimla, Ghatkopar, Ludhiana Supercar Club, first blue 570GT etc.

Well, here is India's first silver McLaren 570S Spyder. Also, Delhi's first! xp
Jokes aside, surprised to see no pics and discussion of it here even after 4 days of it being spotted.

Now hoping someone brings in the prettiest one of the range, the 570GT, soon!

India gets its first Mclarens: 570S, 570S Spider & a few 720S-imageuploadedbyteambhp1533922410.207364.jpg

Pic via https://www.facebook.com/supercarsinindia/

India gets its first Mclarens: 570S, 570S Spider & a few 720S-imageuploadedbyteambhp1533922492.077021.jpg

Pic via https://m.facebook.com/AutomobiliArdent/

Apologies if off-topic, but an interesting bit of trivia. All McLarens use the same V8, which was actually designed by Nissan for their 1989 Group C car, the R89C.

Yes, in essence all McLaren road cars are powered by a 80s-90s vintage Nissan engine! McLaren do not have real engine expertise per se, perhaps why the whole F1 fiasco surrounding Honda and now having to switch to Renault engines.

This engine, the VRH35Z used in the Group C race car was then resurrected and upgraded (now VRH35L) for the 1997 24 hours Le Mans car, the R390. The car designed by the legendary Ian Callum (now Jaguar) and made in association with TWR. The LeMans spec engine produced 640 bhp (albeit the original R89 version could be tuned for 900+). The road car programme never took off and the R390 Le Mans programme came to an end after two or three not very successful years.

India gets its first Mclarens: 570S, 570S Spider & a few 720S-161604.jpg

The Nissan R390, whose engine Mclaren borrows.

Mclaren used old Nissan VRH35L units to road test the 12C development prototypes. McLaren then purchased the engine making rights from TWR and used the services of engine specialist Ricardo to turn the Nissan unit into the M838T (now enlarged to 3.8 litre).

So in some ways the humble Sunny shares microscopic strands of dna with the exotic McLarens!