McLaren announces prices for India

McLaren’s entry to India is now official, and we have managed to get our hands on the price lists of the cars coming to our shores. McLaren will start by selling three models, the GT, the 720S and the 720S Spider. The GT is the entry point in the British manufacturer's portfolio for India and will be priced at Rs 3.73 crore. The 720S will be priced at Rs 4.64 crores and it’s topless counterpart the 720S Spider will cost Rs 5.03 crore (all prices are ex-showroom). Infinity Cars will be the exclusive importer for McLaren to India, and they have plenty of experience in dealing with this segment as they already represent the likes of Lamborghini, Porsche, BMW, Mini and Ducati.

McLaren GT: Rs 3.73 crore

The McLaren GT is the manufacturer’s grand tourer offering and is designed and set up to be able to handle long distances with ease. It is powered by a mid-mounted, 4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine that is good for 611bhp and 630Nm. The engine is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and power is sent to the rear wheels via an open differential. The GT uses a carbonfibre tub chassis that is a revised version of what’s found on the 720S. And keeping in line with the GT moniker, the engineers at McLaren have managed to squeeze 420-litres of cargo space at the rear and 150-litres under the bonnet. The GT uses a double wishbone suspension setup with adaptive dampers, similar to that on the now discontinued Sports Series models. Performance figures stand at 3.2sec for 0-100kmph, 9.0sec to hit 200kmph and a top whack of 327kmph. These figures are aided by the fact that the car weighs 1530kg, fully fueled.

McLaren 720S: Rs 4.64 crore

The McLaren 720S is the successor to the 650S and is built around a modified version of the monocoque that has been made stiffer and lighter to make it a better performer. Speaking of performance, the 720S coupe is powered by a 4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 that puts out a mental 710bhp and 770Nm. The engine is mated to a seven-speed gearbox and power is sent to the rear wheels. The 720S uses ‘Proactive Chassis Control II’ which is their adaptive suspension setup that eliminates the need for anti-roll bars.

The 720S boasts of some insane power figures with 0-100kmph achieved in a claimed 2.9sec and a top speed of 341kmph.

McLaren 720S Spider: Rs 5.03 crore

You thought the 720S coupe was sexy? Well, have you seen it with its top off? Enter the 720S Spider. To accommodate the folding hard top roof setup, McLaren engineers had to tinker with the 720S’ monocoque and removed the central spine and redesigned the rear shelf to accommodate the carbonfibre roof on top of the mid-mounted engine. But because McLaren didn’t have to add extra bracing to the tub, they managed to achieve a dry weight of 1332kg, only 49kg more than the coupe, and all of this without any loss of torsional rigidity. Because of this performance figures from the 710bhp, 4.0-litre V8 remain extremely close to the coupe. The Spider still accelerates to 100kmph in 2.9sec and can attain the same 341kmph top speed provided the roof is on. In terms of aero, McLaren have repositioned the active spoiler to accommodate for the change in weight distribution. Suspension wise, the 720S Spider uses the same ‘Proactive Chassis Control II’ setup.

The GT 720S and the 720S Spider are the first three McLarens to be sold in India officially and we can expect the company to bring in more models based on customer response. McLaren India’s first showroom will be set up in Mumbai and we can expect to see more come up as time passes.