And that day in 2017 I went to one of my favorite shopping malls in Beijing to get some food. To my greatest surprise, there was a tent on the parking lot with three supercars: a Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 Versace, a McLaren P1, and a Ferrari California. The Lamborghini is the rarest so we start with that one.
The Murciélago LP640 Versace was an official collaboration between Lamborghini and the Italian fashion house. Only 20 examples were manufactured in 2007: 10 coupes and 10 roadsters. Each car came with a matching Versace luggage set, driving shoes, and gloves. It has Versace’s signature design on the doors and everywhere inside. The seats have a different color: black for the driver and white for the passenger. Earlier on I met a brand new Versace in a Lamborghini shop elsewhere in Beijing.
The alloy wheels are bugging me. They have the Versace logo in them, but as far as I can tell these were not the standard wheels of the Versace. The alloys appear to be made by Vossen Wheels. Perhaps the previous owner changed the wheels, or the shop that sold it. If you know more, please let me know in the comments below.
The Versace uses the same engine as the standard Murciélago LP640; a 6.5 liter naturally aspirated V12 with 640 PS, hence the name, and 660 Nm. Horses went to all four wheels via a six-speed automated manual gearbox.
Versace branding on the seats and on the doors. The Lamborghini was the only car without pricing. So I asked. A sales fellow said it costs 15 million yuan. That was huge. Rare Lamborghini cars are always expensive in China, but 15 million was extreme even for Chinese standards.
Parked almost casually in that tent the ultra fast and ultra rare McLaren P1. It was produced from 2013 until 2015. Only 375 cars were ever produced. About two dozen 0f those have ended up in China. This dark red car was produced in 2014. It had a gray interior, carbon black mirrors, dark gray alloy wheels with yellow brake calipers. A beautiful speed machine.
The company selling these cars is called 北京中盛名车汇 (Běijīng Zhōng Shèngmíng Chēhuì, literally Beijing Zhongsheng Famous Auto Exchange). They also got a huge shop in south Beijing, I went there many times, I will post some pictures in a later post.
The P1 was powered by a hybrid drive-train based around a 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8 petrol engine with 727hp and 719nm, mated to an electric motor which adds another 176hp and 260nm for a grand total of 903hp and 978nm. Top speed is 349km/h and 0-100 is gone in 2.8 seconds. When new, the McLaren P1 went for 12.6 million yuan or $ 2.02 million. That was a good deal! This one was for sale for much more: 19.58 million yuan, with only 440 kilometers on the clock.
The third car in the tent was a comparatively less spectacular Ferrari California. It was specced really nice, with a dark blue body and a red interior. It was made in 2016 and had driven 12,300 kilometers, which is a lot for any Ferrari in China. Price was 2.82 million yuan. Decent. When new in 2016, it went for 3.08 million. Power came from a 3.9 liter V8 turbo with 560 hp and 755 Nm. And that, fuzzily, makes it the car with the highest torque number of our supercar trio.
Well, that was a great supercar tent on an odd location. More supercars soon!