Thursday 30th October 2014

Delivery miles: LaFerrari, P1 and 918 Spyder

McLaren P1 values on the rise, LaFerraris peaking and - what's this? - Porsche 918 bargains

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Tough choice. Among 2014's trio of stellar hyper-hybrids - P1, LaFerrari and 918 - which one would you have?

All three prove that performance really can live up to the old cliche and be 'electrifying', with electric power helping to deliver some pretty spectacular figures. To wit, the McLaren P1: 916bhp, 719lb ft of torque, 217mph and 0-62 in 2.8 seconds. LaFerrari: 950hp, 664lb ft, 217mph and a sub-three 0-62. Porsche 918: 887hp, 944lb ft, 214mph and 0-62 in 2.6 seconds.

P1s seem to be increasing in desirability

If you can't make your mind up, well, the market very quickly has. Three months ago, a finance company revealed that premiums on these latest must-have hypercars were running at up to £1m (for the LaFerrari). A slightly less plutocratic £300K spike applied to the McLaren P1 and if you wanted a Porsche 918 Spyder, it was £200K over the odds.

That may have been true three months ago, but things have certainly moved on today. The evidence of the PH classifieds shows that big premiums are still being charged on the first two, although on a less stratospheric level for the LaF, but rather higher for the P1. And shock horror - you can now actually get a brand new 918 for a chunky discount off list.

Hot property
So the McLaren P1 is seemingly on the rise. All 375 examples sold out long ago, even at a list price of £866,000. But if you want one now, it'll cost you a whole lot more.

This unregistered German-supplied example has just 24km on the clock. Painted Pearl White with a black interior, I'll cost you £1,406,000 taxed and on the road.

Despite best efforts Ferrari couldn't stop speculators

A further three P1s are on offer through prestige dealer Prindiville, two in yellow, one in white. The cheapest is a 150-mile yellow example up for £1.2m. A zero-mileage one with the same colour scheme will set you back £1,380,000, while another zero-miler in Pearl White is up for £1.45m. So, P1 premiums of between £334,000 and £584,000.

Having a LaF
Next, LaFerrari. Maranello insisted that you had to own at least five of its models before even considering selling you a LaF. There was no shortage of collectors of Maranello metal/carbon to snap up the 499 available examples, each priced at £1.15m.

No surprise that owners of four Fezzas or less have been prepared to shell out big time to get their bums on a bit of LaFerrari Alcantara. Premiums exceeded £1m initially - indeed, the steepest price tag we saw at the height of LaF-mania was £2.46m in Germany - but those days are seemingly over, if the evidence of no fewer than three examples in the PH classifieds is anything to go by.

The current entry price is €1,990,000 (£1.883m UK taxes paid). That's a £750K premium, give or take a few grand - a chunky wedge in anyone's book, but still well shy of the million. It's claimed to be a "physical vehicle". A further LaFerrari in red - intriguingly described as a diesel automatic! - is priced rather higher.

In this company 918 Spyder looks a bargain

That phrase "physical vehicle" gives you some clue as to what's going on in this rarefied market, where Ferrari's policy was designed (seemingly in vain) to prevent speculation. Another phrase in an ad for a second, new and unregistered LaFerrari is instructive too: "Because of the sensitivity of these cars, we would like serious enquiries only from end users, we will not publish any vehicle specifics." And there's no price tag published either...

In this company, the Porsche 918 Spyder feels like the whippersnapper, with an almost bargain price new of £732,332 (or £799,832 with the Weissach Package fitted).

There are also four of these for sale on PH - three of which have zero miles. One of them is a build slot up for €750,000 - on the road in the UK that'd be £703,000 - a saving of almost £30K on list. A second one (looking very fetching in Martini colours) costs rather more, at £806,000 taxes paid. Bargain? In this company, almost.

 

 

[mrclav]

Not surprised in the slightest by this. I think Porsche possibly made too many 918s but in all honesty I find it the least desirable of the 3 hypercars and evidently the market agrees...