Report: Mexico’s Mastretta hoping to turn Top Gear notoriety into sales

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Etc., UK, Celebrities

Mastretta MXT

Mastretta MXT – Click above for high-res image gallery

Mexican sportscar manufacturer Mastretta is making the best of a bad situation. The company is attempting to capitalize on the furor over insulting comments that the presenters of Top Gear made about the automaker and Mexico in general. According to Drive.com, since the incident, traffic to the company’s website has skyrocketed, and more importantly, orders for the Mastretta MXT have leapt as well. According to Carlos Mastretta, the company’s general manager, the manufacturer now has orders from countries in Europe as well as Brazil and Chile. Mastretta has recently begun to receive inquiries from the States, as well.

The jump in attention is thanks solely to the dust up over the Top Gear comments. According to Drive.com, the MXT was a relative unknown – even in its home country. While Mastretta is a well-known manufacturer of public-transportation vehicles, few knew that the company is also responsible for this new sportscar before hearing about the confrontation between the BBC and Mexico’s ambassador to the UK.

The Mastretta MXT is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter Ford Duratec four-cylinder engine with around 250 horsepower, and the company says that the vehicle should be good for 0-60 mph dashes in the high four-second range thanks to its lightweight design.

Gallery: Mastretta MXT

[Source: Drive.com]

Report: Mexico’s Mastretta hoping to turn Top Gear notoriety into sales originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autoblog Podcast #194 – Bentley Continental, Lamborghini teaser, Mexico’s Mastretta and budget Toyota sports cars

Filed under: Concept Cars, Podcasts, Coupe, Performance, Etc., Paris Motor Show, Bentley, GMC, Lamborghini, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Military

Click above for the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes, RSS or listen now!

It’s Episode #194 of the Autoblog Podcast, and Chris, Sam and Dan talk about the 2011 Bentley Continental, what Lamborghini has in store for the Paris Motor Show, Mexico’s Mastretta MXT and budget sports cars from Toyota. Two questions cap it at just over an hour this week. Thanks for listening!

Autoblog Podcast #194 – Bentley Continental, Lamborghini teaser, Mexico’s Mastretta and budget Toyota sports cars

In the Autoblog Garage:

Nissan Pathfinder
GMC Sierra 3500 HD
Mitsubishi Outlander

News:

  • Budget Toyota sports cars
  • Lamborghini teaser
  • Mastretta MXT
  • 2011 Bentley Continental GT

Hosts:
Dan Roth, Sam Abuelsamid, Chris Shunk

Runtime: 63:00


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Feedback:

Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com
Voicemail: 734-288-8POD (734-288-8763)

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Autoblog Podcast #194 – Bentley Continental, Lamborghini teaser, Mexico’s Mastretta and budget Toyota sports cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mexico’s Mastretta releases a few lines about MXT sports car for Paris

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Specialty, South America

Mastretta MXT teaser announcement

Mexican sports car intender Mastretta has officially announced that it will reveal the production version of its MXT at this month’s Paris Motor Show.

Longtime Autoblog readers may recall that the Latin auto was actually expected to go on sale back in 2009, but for unknown reasons, it evidently hasn’t made it into serial production yet. Previously shown iterations of the MXT have been powered by a 2.0-liter Ford Duratec four-cylinder, with the promise that a production model would be turbocharged and fettled by the enginemeisters at Cosworth. The target back then was a modest 240 horsepower, but with an expected weight of under a ton, 0-60 mph was expect in under five seconds.

At this point, we’re not sure if the car will look like the model revealed in 2007, let alone how many MXTs are planned, or at what cost. Back in 2008, Mastretta indicated that they were targeting about 150 units per year, with fully 70 percent of production earmarked for Europe and the United States. Click past the jump for the company’s announcement and check out our gallery of the original MXT below.

Gallery: Mastretta MXT

[Source: Mastretta]

Continue reading Mexico’s Mastretta releases a few lines about MXT sports car for Paris

Mexico’s Mastretta releases a few lines about MXT sports car for Paris originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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