GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: McLaren 675LT coming to Oz

McLaren will ask more than $600,000 for one of its new 675LT sports cars in Australia, it announced at the Geneva Motor Show.

The new, lighter, faster version of the 650S will cost $616,250 in Australia, which is a substantial jump up from the £260,000 it will cost in its British home market.

For all that cash, McLaren insists the 675LT will deliver "ultimate levels of driver engagement in a car that is 100kg lighter than its (still quite fast) little brother.

Developed for track work while still being road legal, the 675LT's 497kW of power is a suspiciously scant 4kW more than Ferrari claims for its rival, the new 488 GTB. The Ferrari boasts more torque, though, with 760Nm at 3000rpm compared to the 675LT's 700Nm figure.

McLaren hasn't just turned up the wick on the boost knob to get the added performance, though, and about half of the engine is new, including new turbochargers, new cylinder heads, new exhaust manifolds, new camshafts and new, lighter forged connecting rods.

McLaren believes this won't be an issue in a car that weighs only 1230kg dry, thanks to a weight-loss program for a car that was already trim, delivering the astonishing power-to-weight ratio of 404kW per tonne.

The seats are now stripper carbon-fibre shells and while the air conditioning has been retained, its controls are now integrated into the multimedia display.

The entire rear of the car from the B-pillar back is in carbon-fibre, while the exhaust is now titanium and, cleverly, the right exhaust comes from the left bank of the 3.8-litre bi-turbo V8 and vice-versa. That's because the ideal length for the pipes would have had them sticking out by 300mm, McLaren says, so the left-field solution was to cross them over.

It claims the extra power and lower weight help it to hit 100km/h in 2.9 seconds, despite its rear-wheel drive limitations, and 200km/h in 7.9 seconds before running out of puff at 330km/h.

It "LT" (long tail) status is more than just an homage to the F1 LT, with a 34mm body stretch to make it slipperier through the air.

It is promised to be grippier in corners, too, with a 27 per cent hike in front spring stiffness and a whopping 63 per cent jump in the rear spring rate.