2019 McLaren 600LT launches in Australia

The 2019 McLaren 600LT has made it Down Under, with a pre-production version shown to media today in a Sydney studio.

The Australian launch of the newest Longtail will be followed by a customer viewing tonight, at which around 100 potential buyers for the car will have a chance to take a proper look.

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As previously confirmed, the 600LT sports properly mega outputs of 441kW and 620Nm from its twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 and claims to run the 0-100km/h gauntlet in just 2.9 seconds. Furthermore, McLaren says its kerb weight of 1356kg is more than 60kg lighter than the ballistic 720S.

The 600LT’s light weight is in part thanks to the use of ‘lighter and stiffer suspension components’ from the McLaren 720S such as forged aluminium double wishbones and uprights. The 600LT also borrows its brakes from the McLaren Super Series.

The launch was hosted by McLaren Automotive’s Asia-Pacific managing director George Biggs, who told MOTOR that the first car should arrive at the end of the year, before they start showing up “in anger” throughout 2019.

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“Australia will tend to see cars arrive around end of the year, start of the next… What we do with these type of cars is once we’ve got the gauge of how many cars we might sell, we’ll bring them in,” Biggs said in an interview.

“This car is only going to be produced for 12 months, so its very limited in terms of its actual number we’re actually going to produce.

“For us it’s not about a specific number, it’s about measuring demand and seeing how many cars we can get out of the factory.”

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While the previous iterations of ‘LT’ (675 Coupe and Spider) were limited to 500 each, the 600LT has no production ceiling.

Biggs says, however, that there’s no risk of the new model cannibalising the standard-spec car. Of the roughly 4300 (according to Biggs) cars produced by McLaren last year, Biggs estimates approximately a third were 570S.

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In Australia, the car will cost buyers $455,000 before on-road costs, though its expected many buyers will spend far more on customisation options, particularly from McLaren Special Operations.

McLaren says some cars have already been pre-ordered, though with no hard limit on cars, there’s still plenty of opportunity for buyers to get in, as long as it’s before production ceases.