Michael Fux has purchased dozens of super cars in his life, from Ferraris to Bugattis to Porsches. But this morning, his favorite car is a bright green McLaren Senna that he just purchased for $1.3 million.
It was the first Senna in the world to be delivered to a customer. And Fux was one of the lucky 500 rich car collectors who purchased one before it sold out.
“Wow,” Fux said, as he got his first look Tuesday at the car rolling into the courtyard in front of his condo in Manhattan. “It’s absolutely awesome.”
Fux owns about 140 cars, give or take a few dozen, he said. The so-called “Mattress King” loves to customize them with one-of-a-kind colors he finds in flowers, apples or other inspirations. The new Senna is done in an emerald green. The color came from bright green patent leather on one of his pair of shoes.
“They were showing my greens, and nothing was emerald,” Fux said. “And then I thought and I looked on my shoe and my shoe had a piece of patent leather in emerald green. So I put it up on top of the table and I said ‘That’s the color.’ So they photographed it and that’s the color. So that’s Fux emerald green.”
The Senna is more of a weapon than a status ride. Built for the racetrack, it’s radical wings, flaps and vents make it look like a four-wheeled transformer. It’s expected to do zero to 60 mph in under 2.7 seconds, has 789 horsepower and an ultra-light body that can whip around the track.
While it was built for the race track, Fux says he has no plans to take it to top speeds.
“I won’t track it, but I will drive it fast every once in a while. A car like this, it would be a shame to track it. You tear it up when you take it on the track,” he said.
When asked how he felt spending $1.3 million on a car he’s never driven, he said “You’re looking at it as a piece of art. People pay hundreds of millions of dollars for a picture. This thing will never lose its value. So it’s a piece of art. Something great to look at, something great to drive, what else can one ask?”
McLaren has ramped up production and sales rapidly since it started selling cars commercially in 2011. Last year it’s production hit over 3,300 cars – taking on high-end luxury car makers like Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini.
McLaren said the Senna is part of its strategy to increase its production of the highest quality cars without creating a market glut.
“Our ultimate goal is to always have demand higher than supply,” said Tony Joseph, President of McLaren’s North America. “So we pay very close attention to our production levels and our dealer body and try to make sure that our stock levels don’t get high.”
Fux, who emigrated from Cuba at 15 and started out selling used tires in New Jersey, said his first car was a 10-year-old 1950 Ford with a rotten floor that he bought for $25.
“I told myself that one day when I can afford it, I’m going to go ahead and get the cars I want and this is one of them,” he said.
Disclosure:
CNBC has a partnership with McLaren
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