Filed under: Sports/GTs, Euro, Misc. Auto Shows, UK
London 2008: Mastretta MXT will be Mexico's first homegrown car
Click above for more high-res shots of the Mastretta MXT
It may have taken Mexico a while to produce its first car, but at least when it finally took place, it did so with style. When we originally heard of the Mastretta MXT, it was said to be powered by a stock Ford Duratec four-banger. Fortunately, the production machine will be blessed with a much more impressive version of the 2.0L mill, one tuned by the maestros at Cosworth, who have also bestowed the block with a turbocharger. Claimed output is 240 horses, which is plenty to move the MXT along at an impressive clip due to its light weight of just 900 kilograms -- just a bit shy of a ton. The run to sixty is dispatched in under five seconds and top speed is up around a buck-fifty.
The car will be available beginning next May in the U.K., with other European destinations to follow. Fitting, as the car, with its chassis a blend of aluminum bonded with composites and its body of fiberglass, will be compared most directly with Britain's own Lotus Elise and Exige.
Gallery: Mastretta MXT
[Source: Mastretta]
Press Release:
Mexican Sportscar Mastretta MXT Launch Set to Spice Up British International Motor Show
MEXICO CITY - July 18, 2008: Bristling with design flair, the all-new Mastretta MXT is the exciting and exclusive new sports car that will put Mexico on the map and offer UK drivers performance and more choice in the sub £40,000 sector.
The lightweight two-seater weighs just 900kg. And with top speed of 150mph, it is aimed at thrill seekers who also have an eye to the environment, who want to have fun and enjoy driving without causing damage through their car's excessive weight and power.
Mastretta MXT is the first car to be designed and built in Mexico, and the aggressive and sculpted sports coupé makes its debut here at the British International Motor Show.
This unique, rear-wheel drive two-seater's 2.0litre turbocharged Duratec engine develops nearly 240bhp pushing it on to 60 mph from rest in less than 5.0secs. Constructed from bonded aluminium, the semi-monocoque chassis features aircraft style technology. Closed mould techniques sculpt the distinctive body from high quality fibreglass and the air-conditioned interior is leather-trimmed.
Direct racecar feel comes through rack and pinion steering – 2.8 turns lock to lock. And 293mm ventilated brake discs with ABS as standard slow the car with eye-popping power, when necessary. Mastretta MXT has double wishbone suspension front and rear.
Lifestyle Automotive is the company licensed to import and distribute the cars in Europe and company boss Tom Martin is confident of success with Mastretta MXT.
"Customers who place orders at the show will be able to register their cars in May next year," he says. "The Mastretta MXT on display at ExCeL 22 July - 3 August is the penultimate prototype," Martin says. "We should complete Vehicle Certification Agency testing by October and RHD production, which is limited to 80 cars in the first full year, will start by January."
National pride as well as burning ambition for their new car motivates the Mastretta brothers who have taken the car from idea through concept to reality.
"We needed to create a great car because Mexico has no tradition of sophisticated sports car manufacturing," says designer Daniel Mastretta. "It is most important that our customers are delighted by the new MXT. That's what we aimed to do from the first drawing of the car, but we also want to make our country proud of the MXT and to show the world what we can do."
- # Price (rrp): £32,999
- Engine: 1999 cc
- Aspiration: Supercharged
- Power: 240 bhp
- Torque: 184 lb ft
- Transmission: 5 speed manual
- Front tyres: 205/45 R17
- Power/weight: 267/tonne
- Length: 3900 mm
- Width: 1790 mm
- Height: 1150 mm
- 0-60 mph: < 5 secs (est)
- Rear tyres: 235/45 R17
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Carlos 10:38AM (7/25/2008)
Does it come with large storage compartments....?
Reply
Vintage 10:38AM (7/25/2008)
I think it'd sell better if it had an APC sticker across the windshield, a spray painted interior with clashing colors, wal-mart plastic spinner hubcaps, LED shift knob, a huge aluminum wing, and only played oompa oompa mexi music at loud volumes. HAhahah.
Reply
BlackCanary 10:52AM (7/25/2008)
I am surprised at you Vintage. Usually you are the one that goes after people for making comments like that. I am not saying it was not funny just surprised to see it from you.
SamKochel 12:31PM (7/25/2008)
Oh no... I teach at a high school in South Oxnard in California. It's about 75% Mexican (Latino). I have some wonderful students. I had a girl who's mom was a housewife and the dad worked up from a field worker to a field manager...she went to Penn's school of business...and her brother is a Lawyer and sister a Doctor. I have A LOT of students who are the 1st in their family with a college degree...often a high school degree...I really do like my job...although we have lots of unmotivated students with NO support from home for school and so on...
HOWEVER... Once I make the transition from my city -mostly white uppper middle class- to the area where I teach... I start to see plastic "chrome looking" wheel covers, horrible graphics, spoilers on Camray's (well I saw one), and the one that makes me laugh the most is the bolt on exhaust that make it look (to people who don't know better) that you have a high-flow exhaust... I even remember the brand new mustang GT I saw with HUGE 20-something inch chrome rims and a big wing...why on earth would you want that kind of heavy rotational mass...omg... It's generally the first generation that seems to get this crap... Why? It makes me sad, makes me laugh...a lot. Even just a real cat back on your civic would be fine...why a bolt on...HAHAHAHAHAHA... and I have seen the spray painted interiors...or the worst is the nice rims on a car with faded and/or peeling paint...wtf? Anyway, Vintage, funny and true...not all the time...but I've sure seen it.
Next, I like the side view of this car... kind of even looks liek a P2 a little from the driver's window back. I am not big on the front arches being so high and the back end should have a diffusers and not be a different color. Otherwise, it's not that bad, and I am all for small, simple lightweight performance cars. I am 6'3" and if I could fit comfortably (enough) I might very well have an Elise right now instead of my STi (that has nothing added but true "go fast" parts).
Vintage 1:31PM (7/25/2008)
I live very close to the major mexi-areaof my city. I go there a lot, I love mexican food! But the cars... the cars are so horribly modified, they are actually hilarious. They're basically like what a 6th grader would want to do if he had a car. Why is it only the mexican area? I have no idea. Whatever the reason, the cars are still hilarious.
Naveed 2:26PM (7/25/2008)
different cultures, diff tastes. simple as that.
some people think non-functional mods are ridiculous and silly looking, some think it looks cool and adds style. I wouldnt assume that the people that buy these products think they are adding hp. in their opinions they are adding style, and in their culture, it looks cool. Just different tastes, whats so hard to understand about that?
nate_687 4:58PM (7/25/2008)
Why does it says in the article that it is Turbocharged, yet at the bottom of the page with the Hp and Top speed it says clearly that it is Supercharged.. Which one is it?
JOHNNY CHINGAS 11:06AM (7/26/2008)
Or it could play country (sister-fukn music) ,other wise known as your moms LOVE SONGS
JOE LOPEZ 11:57AM (7/26/2008)
HEY REDNECK,THE RICHIEST MEN ON THE WORL IS CARLOS SLIMS,LIKE US WE HAVE THE BEST HERE,ALSO PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED IN MEXICO UPSCALE GROUPS
Jaime 1:38PM (7/26/2008)
Vintage,
Does it ever cross your mind that some of your custom modifications are laughable to people of other ethnicities;
The difference being that they are cool, they keep ignorant comments to themselves!!!
User 4:09AM (7/27/2008)
Joe Lopez,
The world's richest man is Warren Buffet. I don't understand why you would brag about Carlos Slim's fortune. Slim largely made his fortune by monopolizing the Mexican telecommunications industry. He has made fortunes off the undeveloped, poverty-stricken country of Mexico.
Vintage 5:14PM (7/27/2008)
Whatever mexicans. Want me to stop making fun of mexi-rides with dumb modifications? Then quit making dumb modifications. They're stupid looking, tacky, and pointless.
Ken 10:38AM (7/25/2008)
Me gusta.
Reply
CORVETTE ZR1 10:41AM (7/25/2008)
Please... Bring it back to Mexico and keep it there in my opinion it looks very ugly cross between a Lotus and a Ascari gone horribly Wrong...
Reply
Ben 11:13AM (7/25/2008)
Based only on the picture, an Audi R8, Elise and Gallardo got together for a threesome... =]
Mehul 7:51PM (7/25/2008)
"Based only on the picture, an Audi R8, Elise and Gallardo got together for a threesome... =]"
and had a plastic baby!
TJ 10:42AM (7/25/2008)
no me gusta.
Reply
boneheadotto 10:55AM (7/25/2008)
Why is the price in pounds and not Pesos???
Personally i like it. Looks a little Lotus like with some creative lines. But it does look relatively cheap. Plus it is just as american made as a Dodge. Probably made side by side with all those Dodges in Mexico.
Reply
BlackCanary 10:59AM (7/25/2008)
or VW or Chevrolet.
DreamTheater 11:35AM (7/25/2008)
The price is in pounds because it will come to the UK market first as stated in the article