McLaren 570GT Might Have To Fight Changing Tastes To Thrive

McLaren 570GT Might Have To Fight Changing Tastes To Thrive.

“Ageing buyers pose a long-term question mark on demand”

GOODWOOD, England – McLaren is now delivering its more “civilized” 570GT mid-engine coupe to the U.S. but its ambitious plans might be stymied by changing fashion.

The 570GT might be called “less deranged” rather than civilised because it is the first supercar produced by the British company which was designed for comfort and liveability rather than the racetrack.

The 570GT might be more user-friendly than previous models but it is still exceptionally low, and has those strange gull-wing doors which swing upwards rather than outwards. Would-be drivers of a certain age will be a little apprehensive as they approach the car and contemplate sliding way down into the driver’s seat. You have to press a button under the door handle, and the door swings up. It’s so low that you almost fall down into the seat, and the slightest downwards touch persuades the door to swing back shut. The first impression is almost claustrophobic as the tight body seems to cut headroom and wrap itself around you, but you soon get used to that.

The interior is beautiful and simple. Turn on the engine and it screams into life just behind your head, then settles down to an impressive, purposeful growl. On the road the 570GT has of course almost unbelievable acceleration. On British country roads, if you spot a gap in the traffic for overtaking it blasts out and in safely, quickly and sure-footedly. You very quickly feel at home, but off the track, the preoccupation at all times is “I must not break the speed limit. I must not break the speed limit”. You will fail. The suspension provides a surprisingly comfortable ride for the most luxurious and refined of any McLaren to date. The steering is amazingly quick and accurate. 

Assorted Aston Martins
McLaren unveiled the 570GT at the Geneva Car Show in the Spring and it competes with assorted Aston Martins, Ferraris, the Acura NSX  and top end BMWs, Audi R8s, Porsches, Mercedes AMGs, the Jaguar F-type R and Nissan GT-R.

The 570GT is powered by a 3.8 liter twin-turbo mid-mounted motor producing 562 hp and 443 pound feet of torque. It weighs just under 3,000 pounds and rockets to 60 mph from rest in just over three seconds. The standing quarter mile will come up in 11.1 seconds. The power is delivered through a seven-speed automatic gearbox to the rear wheels. You can select three modes – Normal, Sport and Track.  On a racetrack, where many 570GTs will find themselves despite its road-friendly design, the car could reach 204 mph.

All very impressive. But according to investment bank Citi Research this type of car might be approaching its sell-by date, as baby-boomers thin out and later generations show less enthusiasm for driving like a bat out of hell.

“Ageing buyers pose a long-term question mark on demand,” said Citi Research analyst Michael Tyndall.

“We have a concern surrounding the long-term appeal of sports cars. In the U.S. sales of high-end sports cars are down 12% year to date, which appears to be related to ageing baby-boomers. To counter this, Porsche led the way into sporty SUVs and stablemates Bentley and Lamborghini are following,” Tyndall said in recent report on Italian luxury sports maker Ferrari.

Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini are owned by Volkswagen.

Tyndall said Ferrari doesn’t so far plan to follow this move into SUVs. McLaren adamantly denies this too.

More than $1 million
McLaren sold 1,654 cars globally in 2015 and aims to reach 3,000 by 2019. That might not sound much until you realise its cheapest model sells for about $160,000 and its most expensive Ultimate class P1 costs more than $1 million. The 570GT starts at $200,000.

Kelley Blue Book analyst Rebecca Lindland said McLaren may struggle to reach the 3,000 target.

“I just have concerns about the uber rich and the price of oil, as well as Brexit. Will that impact this small sliver of the population? It actually could. Dropping half million to a million (dollars) on a custom car isn’t usually a big deal, but when oil is in the tank – no pun intended – and the Middle East is implementing austerity measures, well, you know the luxury market may be feeling it a bit,” Lindland said.

She said in the U.S. there are about half as many Gen X (1965-1977) than Baby Boomers (1946-1964), but there are even more millennials (1978-1994).

“Some millennials are super rich – think Silicon Valley. So that could make up for the decline in Gen X buyers,” Lindland said.

Is this market on the way out?

“I don’t think it is a dying market, but it’s a challenged market. The overall market for cars is going though a lot of changes demographically, but places like the Middle East (traditionally a big market for luxury products) is being constrained by the low price of oil. Even here there is a sense of austerity where it currently isn’t appropriate to spend millions of dollars on cars, and that must focus into any forecast,” Lindland said.

Meanwhile the turmoil surrounding McLaren after denied reports Apple wanted to buy it have subsided, only to be replaced by fresh controversy as long-term leader Ron Dennis was apparently forced out of his job. McLaren Automotive makes the cars, while McLaren Technology runs Formula 1 racing, and the spin-offs from knowledge gained there.