Option prices on McLaren's, are they just daft???

Option prices on McLaren's, are they just daft???

Author
Discussion

Streetrod

Original Poster:

6,468 posts

205 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
Before I start I just want to say I love Mclaren's but I do wonder how marketing come up with their pricing sometimes. Check out the cost of the paint on this LT:

http://www.supervettura.com/mclaren-675lt-spider-a...

Could someone please explain why companies charge such prices as only the few would be willing to pay this kind of silly money. Would it not make better sense to price the options more attractively that way more people would spend the money and more revenue would be generated??

CoolHands

18,496 posts

194 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
7% of the cost of the vehicle doesn't seem so bad, considering it's one the main attributes you see!

alephnull

355 posts

174 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
Selling cars like this is all about the money:sense ratio. This one is marketed at the far end of the spectrum...

Yipper

5,964 posts

89 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
The car industry is moving to the budget-airline model. Set a bare-minimum spec and whatever price the market will bear, then rape the wallet for add-ons. Was just looking at the new facelift 2017 Golf, and VW have removed quite a few features that were "free" before and you now have to pay for them (e.g. paint colours).

AndStilliRise

2,295 posts

115 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
Wow, what a colour. Bit pricy though!

dobly

1,168 posts

158 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
Nice, but a bit too green for me. If it were more blue-purple.....

br d

8,388 posts

225 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
I paid 5 grand for my colour but what else can you expect with cars like this? Insane option prices are all part of the process.

simonr100

640 posts

116 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
Now that is lovely!!

Streetrod

Original Poster:

6,468 posts

205 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
What bugs me about the paint cost on this car is that you could have ordered the exact same paint on a TVR a number of years ago for a fraction of the cost. You could also have got it on a recent Japanese small car, I cant remember the exact model.

Personally I would like options to actually reflect the production costs plus a decent profit for the manufacturer, not the wholesale ripoff we are seeing in the markets at the moment.

And this is not just a McLaren problem, all car makers seem to think this sort of pricing is fair game

Yipper

5,964 posts

89 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
Interesting to see they are offering Xcor tickets to space (or near-space) up to 350k feet for ~£125k.

http://www.supervettura.com/spacexc.html

lee_fr200

5,476 posts

189 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
Idiocy!

I'd rather just get a cheap colour then have it wrapped in that colour changing vinyl probably cost 5k as opposed to 29k

Sarnie

8,025 posts

208 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
lee_fr200 said:
Idiocy!

I'd rather just get a cheap colour then have it wrapped in that colour changing vinyl probably cost 5k as opposed to 29k
Whilst true, it's just not how people with £400K+ to spend on a car think.........

CoolHands

18,496 posts

194 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
quotequote all
I don't think it's a wrap. I think it's what commonly referred to as 'flip' paint

flemke

22,864 posts

236 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Streetrod said:
What bugs me about the paint cost on this car is that you could have ordered the exact same paint on a TVR a number of years ago for a fraction of the cost. You could also have got it on a recent Japanese small car, I cant remember the exact model.

Personally I would like options to actually reflect the production costs plus a decent profit for the manufacturer, not the wholesale ripoff we are seeing in the markets at the moment.

And this is not just a McLaren problem, all car makers seem to think this sort of pricing is fair game
They do this because they compete (or believe they compete) for customers on base RRP. Once you've decided which brand to go for, you gradually learn the true price of what you want.

stain

1,051 posts

209 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Morgan wanted to charge me £500 to choose the build number displayed on the tiny aluminium plaque in the cockpit (which is now corroding). Bad enough on a car listing at only 32k but the number bore no relation to where in the production run the car was as all of the chassis were already built. It was just to choose which 1" bit of aluminium you want, so it's not just Mclaren who take the pee.

MDL111

6,895 posts

176 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Streetrod said:
What bugs me about the paint cost on this car is that you could have ordered the exact same paint on a TVR a number of years ago for a fraction of the cost. You could also have got it on a recent Japanese small car, I cant remember the exact model.

Personally I would like options to actually reflect the production costs plus a decent profit for the manufacturer, not the wholesale ripoff we are seeing in the markets at the moment.

And this is not just a McLaren problem, all car makers seem to think this sort of pricing is fair game
TVR did that a lot cheaper was exactly m,y first thought when looking at the ad

The Surveyor

7,576 posts

236 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
MDL111 said:
Streetrod said:
What bugs me about the paint cost on this car is that you could have ordered the exact same paint on a TVR a number of years ago for a fraction of the cost. You could also have got it on a recent Japanese small car, I cant remember the exact model.

Personally I would like options to actually reflect the production costs plus a decent profit for the manufacturer, not the wholesale ripoff we are seeing in the markets at the moment.

And this is not just a McLaren problem, all car makers seem to think this sort of pricing is fair game
TVR did that a lot cheaper was exactly m,y first thought when looking at the ad
As far as good business practices are concerned, TVR isn't really the best example to use IMHO.

Daisy Duke

1,510 posts

200 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Sarnie said:
lee_fr200 said:
Idiocy!

I'd rather just get a cheap colour then have it wrapped in that colour changing vinyl probably cost 5k as opposed to 29k
Whilst true, it's just not how people with £400K+ to spend on a car think.........
Well some do actually. Whilst it's easy to let enthusiasm to get the better of you, not everyone loses their sense of perspective when ordering such cars.

Streetrod said:
What bugs me about the paint cost on this car is that you could have ordered the exact same paint on a TVR a number of years ago for a fraction of the cost. You could also have got it on a recent Japanese small car, I cant remember the exact model.

Personally I would like options to actually reflect the production costs plus a decent profit for the manufacturer, not the wholesale ripoff we are seeing in the markets at the moment.

And this is not just a McLaren problem, all car makers seem to think this sort of pricing is fair game
Totally agree. Whilst I understand that manufacturers need to make a profit from their options, some seem to seize the opportunity to really take the piss and charge out of all proportion to what it costs to produce, particularly wrt anything classed as bespoke.

It's concerning how quickly it becomes the norm too - that McLaren colour doesn't look at all outrageous to me as the 918 colour option was £42k IIRC. And you should se the NFGT option prices, I shudder to think what they'll want for a custom colour (I've been warned that it'll be a lot!) when they want £10k to paint a stripe on it. Hence I'm very tempted to get a no cost colour and then wrap it in any design I like, particularly as it sounds like the whole car will require a paint protection wrap anyway.

Streetrod

Original Poster:

6,468 posts

205 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Daisy Duke said:
Sarnie said:
lee_fr200 said:
Idiocy!

I'd rather just get a cheap colour then have it wrapped in that colour changing vinyl probably cost 5k as opposed to 29k
Whilst true, it's just not how people with £400K+ to spend on a car think.........
Well some do actually. Whilst it's easy to let enthusiasm to get the better of you, not everyone loses their sense of perspective when ordering such cars.

Streetrod said:
What bugs me about the paint cost on this car is that you could have ordered the exact same paint on a TVR a number of years ago for a fraction of the cost. You could also have got it on a recent Japanese small car, I cant remember the exact model.

Personally I would like options to actually reflect the production costs plus a decent profit for the manufacturer, not the wholesale ripoff we are seeing in the markets at the moment.

And this is not just a McLaren problem, all car makers seem to think this sort of pricing is fair game
Totally agree. Whilst I understand that manufacturers need to make a profit from their options, some seem to seize the opportunity to really take the piss and charge out of all proportion to what it costs to produce, particularly wrt anything classed as bespoke.

It's concerning how quickly it becomes the norm too - that McLaren colour doesn't look at all outrageous to me as the 918 colour option was £42k IIRC. And you should se the NFGT option prices, I shudder to think what they'll want for a custom colour (I've been warned that it'll be a lot!) when they want £10k to paint a stripe on it. Hence I'm very tempted to get a no cost colour and then wrap it in any design I like, particularly as it sounds like the whole car will require a paint protection wrap anyway.
Seriously, £10k for a stripe!! As this is what gets me. I have painted a number of cars over the years, some to show standard. A stripe is one of the simplest graphics to paint and only takes minutes to mask off especially if the panel can be removed from the car. The actual paint required would only take a fraction of a paint guns cup and once masked the process to spray will take no more than a minute. Then all you have to do is remove the masking tape and cover the panel in clear coat. Total job time no more than an hour, and they want to charge £10k for that, what a joke...

Beefmeister

16,482 posts

229 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
I love that colourstream LT, it's out there but still quite classy.

One caveat, I'd still like carbon mirrors. They're too curved and the flip paint is too tightly contoured on them.