The McLaren P11 will come with 550 HP and weigh less than the 458. What will that do to premiums and wait lists on the 458 ?
The Faithful will scoop up every 458 built with some also paying the 'silly tax' ie. a premium. McLaren may not be so lucky... CH
When I bought my first 355 it was in stock and came with a discount.I think those days might be coming back. As far as the faithfull They will continue but for the volumes that Ferrrai will build they need first time buyers.
Car looks tiny in these pics, so promise of a lighter car is believable. Will it be too cozy for the occupants, though? Also, if this will be a carbon fiber chassis, how can they compete with 458 on price? http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Secret-new-cars/Search-Results/Spyshots/McLaren-P11-supercar-2010-scooped-120809/
Source ? Do you have someone inside or you just read an article with specs some journalists made up based on his assumptions and you now state it here as a fact ?
I don't think it will matter much. McClaren is in a different league. Ferrari faithful are just that.
The P11 is just another kit car, with various bits and pieces outsourced to third party manufacturers. Granted, the last outsourced McLaren turned into something legendary, but that car was designed from the outset as the best sports car possible. The P11 is just another production line exotic that will compete with Porsches, Lambos, Ferraris and even, because of its engine heritage, Benz AMG SL's. I predict it will be nothing special and will probably suffer the same sales apathy as the SLR.
Hopefully IT won't be saddled with the steering rack from the MB 'A' Class series. The lower price alone will give it an advantage over the SLR sales numbers. For some the SLR styling if you can call it that killed the deal right there. At least they learned one lesson; get the excess weight out. CH
Comparing Ferrari distribution network with McLaren, i don't think Ferrari will see Mc as a competitor. Its too local, so to speak. But if they see a huge potential in their new car and invest "very" highly in distribution/service all around the world, which would be a very risky thing to do for an almost new brand (2 "publicly" known street cars in 15 years) in this economy, than maybe they will steal a few customers, but that wont effect the overall sales or price of F458, in my opinion..
Some folks are making there own assumptions that I think the P11 may be a better buy. I don't think that to be the case.What I am saying that it may be a game changer in this segment.
why are we focusing on sales? sure it's not a ferrari and it's not an F1/Veyron type car, so it wont outsell the 458. course not. but just because it's made from "outsourced parts" doesnt mean it can't top the ferrari performance-wise. if the weight is as light as people say it will be.....look out 458.
I'm sure a lot of cars can out perform the 458. So what? A car is more than just numbers. The original question was what will the McLaren do to 458 sales and waiting lists. The answer is still --nothing. Ask anyone outside of the UK if they would rather have the McLaren brand or the Ferrari brand and Ferrari wins everytime. That's not going to change with one new car entering the market. Provided the two cars are similarly priced (which I doubt), the Ferrari will always be first choice. If I have any real question about the McLaren, it's their goal to make 4000 cars a year. That seems very unreasonable without a complete world wide dealer network to service and sell the cars. Even if they use Mercedes, that's going to be difficult and expensive to do.
McLaren has always managed to stay at the top (or near the top) of Formula 1 for decades without any revenue coming from road cars like Ferrari (apart from the 100 odd F1s including the racecars). Their ability to survive and even be mentioned in the same sentence as Ferrari is nothing short of remarkable from a roadcar perspective. Depsite only building 64 road going F1s and the legendary status it achieved who could question their credentials in buliding a superior car to the 458? However, can they build enough at the right price to mildly concern Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche? Absolutley not, but will the car be better? Who knows. People always want someting that no one else has, and for this reason the P11 will be special for the few that want the best, but the brand of Ferrari will always rule the masses.
ah i failed to read the actual question being asked...my mistake well on the sales side of things i agree completely....especially since it seems that the F1 successor is slated to be produced after the P11.
So where is all their money coming from? Selling Drugs? You need revenue/money to be competitive I don't care what market your in. To say that McLaren are on top with so little revenue is a fiery tale dream if you ask me. I just would like to know where all their money is coming from. Are they government funded? Who knows.
don't forget that the beloved ferraris haven't always been the most exquistely built machines as well all like to picture them. Fiat switch gear, COFFEE can with prancing horse embossed on it for a catch can on a 355. lets not forget about the wonderful paintjobs. a few bad apples get through ferrari...
Its hard to compare the F1 to the P11, since the F1 was supposed to be a no compromise car. However the P11 will have a lot of compromises just because its for a different market segment. Regarding McLaren as a company, I doubt the company is worth more than half a billion sterling. (Assuming Ron Dennis is worth 90 million with a 15% stake and then you do the math) Regarding this comment.. Where do I begin.. McLaren was much better off without having a road car division. I mean who would a road going division these days anyways, more than half the car manufacturers are losing money. Ferrari is probably by far the luckiest car manufacturer, obviously they are experiencing a slow down but minimal to other manufacturers. McLaren are betting that they can make money in the next 5 years, I think they are hoping to establish a brand of road cars like Ferrari. They have the potential of losing more than before now that they are exposed to this risk. I predict that if they have any financial problems Mercedes will maybe save their ass (wild guess). Regarding the F1, I heard in some video that it was so expensive to manufacturer (due to the no compromise) that they made zero profit and that they just broke even. Look at Bugatti as an example, it costs 5 million to manufacturer and they are selling it for 1 million. This loss is a long term investment by VW to re-establish the brand they are already coming out with many many variants of the Veyron, then they will come out with a sedan etc. etc. Sorry if that was a little off topic. And as for the performance comparison its hard to tell without any real road tests.
I believe that it is uncertain where the engine in the P11 is sourced, so its power and details remain unknown. The relationship with AMG and Mercedes is not very good as far as I know, but that may be old data. They have no engine design capability and are no match for Ferrari.
