Aussies waiting for McLaren MP4-12C

None will ever challenge Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton for a grand prix race place, but they will be wheeling one of the world's great supercars later this year.

And they will have paid at least  $526,800 - drive away, no more to pay - for the privilege. They are the members of the waiting list for the McLaren MP4-12C, the grand prix company's first road car since the benchmark F1 of the 1990s, and they won't have too much longer to wait.

"There are 14 cars on the way to us. Ten for customers, two for demonstrator work and two for showroom purposes," says Greg Duncan, executive chairman of McLaren Sydney. "We've got 10 customer cars in production. On top of that, we've got about 20 deposits from people who want to drive the car."

That means more than $15 million in orders for a car that has not even reached the road in Australia, but has been very favourably compared with the Ferrari 458 Italia. Duncan admits the McLaren program is running a little late but says the Trivett group has just spent more than $5 million on the fit-out, alone, for the prestige dealership that will house the brand. It's on O'Riordan Street in Alexandria, close to Sydney airport, and will also house Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin and Bentley.

"They are running late and for two reasons. They had some early problems that they decided to fix, and now the car is right they set up a new regional office in Singapore which has complicated things a little," says Duncan. "But now it is humming along. They are producing cars probably a bit quicker than they thought they would."

The first two 12Cs are painted in McLaren's historic racing orange and plain white, although Duncan says customers are going first for black and the global preference is for a deep red.

"They are flying two cars out for us. We wanted to make a bit of a statement. We've optioned them a little differently so people can see what's available. The orange car is a bit sporty and the white car is a bit GT or luxurious."

The dealership is set to open on March 15, when McLaren chairman Ron Dennis will attend a function in Sydney just ahead of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.