Let them eat gas: more exotica on the way
Perhaps it’s an addiction, or an obsessive compulsion, but car companies still can’t help making super-fast, super-expensive supercars. We’ve just seen the first guy in America take delivery of the new Nissan GT-R. To him and the rest of the lucky few who get one, the message might well be this: gather ye track records while ye may. Because there’s a whole Leno-load of exotica about to form on the metaphorical grid.
The new Acura NSX (the name could change between now and launch time) has been spied, albeit in disguised form, undergoing track tests. Further along the development route is the Lexus LF-A (pictured), a carbon-fiber–bodied car powered by a V-10 engine making 500 horsepower. It has already taken part in a European motor race and Lexus says that “a top speed of more than 200 mph [is] not only possible but probable.” Estimates on price have hit $225,000 so far.
The Mercedes-McLaren SLR is, of course, no more. But in its place will come not one but two cars. That’s because this Anglo-German partnership has just been dissolved. So Mercedes-Benz will go its own sweet way in producing a supercar, while McLaren (one of the big names in Formula One racing) will try to revive past glories from the days when it made the 240-mph F1 (pictured) -- arguably the finest supercar ever built -- with what has been tentatively called the P11.
If all this sounds remarkably like some people haven’t woken up and smelt the petrol, don’t be too concerned. Cars such as these are driven so rarely and so sparingly that their main impact is on their owners’ bank accounts when they’re bought and subsequently stored. And who are we to tell people what to do with their money? But here’s a sop to the environment anyway: Lexus is working on a hybrid version of its LF-A. Ferrari is also considering a hybrid model. Looks like everything will be OK after all.
Photos: Lexus, McLaren
