Mastretta MXT Makes It's North American Debut: 2011 LA Auto Show
So far, much of the buzz surrounding Mexico’s sports car, the Mastretta MXT has centered around remarks made by Top Gear’s presenters, Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
Yet for all intents and purposes it’s very much the real deal, featuring a semi-monocoque skeleton formed from aluminium and carbon fiber reinforced plastic. Powered by a twin cam in-line turbocharged four, cranking out some 260 hp and 257 lb-ft of torque, the mid-engined MXT weighs some 2,662 lbs, which according to an official press release enables it to dash from 0-62 mph in 4.9 seconds, and achieve more than 1.1 lateral g while cornering, making it very much in the spirit of the Lotus Elise.
Mastretta which is an arm of Technoidea , a Mexican design and engineering consulting firm, has already begun producing MXTs as turnkey cars for the home and European markets, now the firm is getting ready to move northwards, choosing this year’s L A Auto Show to launch the US version.
Labeled as “specially constructed vehicles,” MXTs destined for the United States and Canada are projected to sell around $60,-$65,000, which considering the performance on tap, is quite a bargain for such a specialty machine.
Mastretta says it plans to sell 100 examples of the MXT in the US next year, with plans to ramp up capacity to around 500 units per year by 2016.
More by Huw Evans
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This car looks like a copy cat of the Lotus. Why? I went to the L.A. Auto show when I saw this car I thought it was the new Lotus:'>( Cute car though.