So 2024 is your year – that private equity firm has finally made you an offer you can’t refuse. You’ve got a cheque with a hell-of-a-lot-of zeroes on it and an empty spot in your garage.
We’ve got good news for you, as this year stands to be a golden one for new supercars from the world’s exotic vehicle manufacturers. From electric American muscle coupes to rip-snorting Prancing Horse convertibles, we give you the supercars coming to Australia this year – the ones that will have us spending exorbitant amounts on TattsLotto.
Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray
Are the neighbours complaining about you starting your 6.2-litre V8 Corvette in the garage before 11am on Sunday mornings? The new Corvette E-Ray could be the answer to your prayers (and domestic disputes). The addition of a 120kW electric motor and 1.9kWh battery grants this American sports car “Stealth Mode”, allowing you to breeze in and out of your garage in absolute silence.
There’s still a naturally aspirated V8 in there, too, don’t worry. With a total system output of 396kW/637Nm, the electric motor also grants this hybrid Corvette all-wheel-drive (and makes it front-drive in electric-only mode) and drops the 0-60mph (0-96km/h) sprint to just 2.5 seconds, on to a claimed 10.5sec quarter mile. That’s despite it weighing up to 185kg more than the Stingray coupe (at 1712kg dry). Pricing is yet to be released, but we would guess around $250,000.
Ferrari Roma Spider
Ferrari’s first front-engine, soft-top convertible sports car in more than 50 years, the Roma Spider ditches the folding metal lid for a cloth roof and tucks a 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 under its long bonnet, one that torments its rear tyres with 456kW and 760Nm. While weight has crept up 84kg over the coupe, the Roma Spider will still test the glue of plenty of hairpieces with a 0-100km/h time of 3.4 seconds (claimed).
Ferrari says the soft, cloth roof can fold down in 13.5 seconds at speeds up to 60km/h. Ferrari will also hand you a bill for $520,300 excluding the on-road costs. That’s $67,300 more than the Roma Coupe.
Lamborghini Revuelto
With the world’s sports car makers dropping cubes, cylinders and even petrol engines in the race to decarbonise their line-ups, we’re not sure how Lamborghini has managed to keep a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 in its halo sports car, but also we don’t care. The Revuelto – pronounced “ray-well-toe” in your best Italian accent – combines its monstrous engine with triple electric motors for a total output of 746kW and around 1500Nm.
Despite weighing 197kg more than an Aventador, the Revuelto will still charge from zero to 100km/h in a claimed 2.5sec – on to a 350km/h top speed. Lamborghini says the small onboard lithium-ion battery can store “below” 20km of electric-only range. Not that you’ll be using it that often, as the V12 promises to be one of the best-sounding engines Lamborghini has produced. Price? More than a million Aussie dollars on-the-road.
McLaren 750S
McLaren’s racoon-eyed Ferrari fighter ups its outputs to 552kW and 800Nm (from the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8) presumably because customers complained the previous 720S was underpowered (hot tip from us: it wasn’t). Weight is also down 30kg for a total figure of 1389kg. With just the rear tyres doing the work, zero to 100km/h drops by one tenth to 2.8sec, while 0-200km/h takes 7.2sec – making this still one of the most rapid super sports cars you can get.
The chassis has had a going-over incorporating bits from the Senna, and inside, there’s a new 8.0-inch central vertical touchscreen infotainment system. Priced from $585,500 for the coupe and $654,600 for the convertible Spider, the 750S intends to be the stuff of the Ferrari 296 GTB’s nightmares.
Mercedes-AMG GT
With its original GT coupe, Mercedes-AMG promised a V8 sports car that could match the Porsche 911 for ultimate handling appeal – but it fell spectacularly short. The new one aims to correct that, being newly built off the same platform as the Mercedes SL but still with the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 as before – and a notable lack of electrification, for now anyway.
With all-wheel-drive standard across the range, outputs start from 350kW/700Nm for the entry model. The biggest change, however, is the interior, switching from a two-seater to a two-plus-two, even if AMG says the back seats are only suitable for people 1.5m and under. Pricing is yet to be released, but don’t expect much change from three to four hundred grand.
Porsche 911 S/T
When Porsche promises that a certain model of 911 is the ‘driver’s 911’, that’s saying something – and that’s what’s written on the box of the new 911 S/T. Basically the 4.0-litre 386kW/465Nm, 9000rpm flat-six of the 911 GT3 RS in a GT3 body, the S/T also gets a six-speed manual gearbox and is the lightest 992 911 yet, at 1380kg DIN – 40kg down on a manual GT3 Touring.
There’s just one catch, and it’s a fairly major one. Porsche says it’ll cost you $660,500 plus on-road costs, but they’ve left off that you’ll have likely also needed to have bought a small car park full of Macans, Cayennes and maybe a Cayman or 911 from the same dealership over probably several years. And not missed any of their customer Christmas parties.
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