Donkervoort breaks a 49-year rule, and the UK finally gets one
Nine markets that never had a chance until now
Donkervoort has been building featherweight sports cars in Lelystad since 1978, and in all that time never once with the steering wheel on the right. The P24 RS changes that. It is a small engineering decision with a large commercial consequence, opening up a set of markets that until now could only watch from a distance.
What is actually changing
The move was made possible by the P24 RS and its all-new in-house engine. "Right-hand drive was an opportunity that came with the P24 RS's all-new PTC engine," said managing director Denis Donkervoort. "Our own research, and the phone calls and requests we kept getting from potential customers, made the demand for it clear." Orders are open now, and deliveries are scheduled for 2028. The right-hand drive cars are otherwise identical to the left-hand drive version in performance and design, which matters more than it sounds: nobody is getting a watered-down export special.
The car itself
The P24 RS uses a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 producing 600 hp and 800 Nm from 4,500 rpm, with the power peak held all the way to the 7,000 rpm limiter. Dry weight is 780 kg, which works out at roughly 770 hp per tonne. Donkervoort has not published a 0 to 100 km/h time, but 0 to 200 km/h takes 7.4 seconds and top speed sits above 300 km/h. Unassisted steering is standard, with power steering and ABS on the options list, and adjustable traction control is fitted as standard.
Power To Choose
PTC stands for Power To Choose, and it is exactly what it sounds like. The engine management lets the driver select between 400, 500 and 600 hp, so the same car can be dialled down for a wet B-road or wound up for a dry circuit. Suspension and traction settings are adjustable too, and buyers configure paint, trim and cabin materials to taste.
Numbers, price and where to buy one
Total P24 RS production is capped at 150 cars, of which fewer than 30 will be right-hand drive. More than half of the total run is already spoken for, so the window is not especially wide. Prices start at 298,500 euro before options, and the target markets are the UK, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. Premier GT in West Sussex has been appointed as the official UK dealer, handling specification, ordering and ownership support. New Zealand is named as a market but does not yet have a confirmed distributor.
AutoNext Take
For a company that builds a few dozen cars a year, engineering a right-hand drive version is not a rounding error, it is a serious investment. That Donkervoort has done it now says something about where the demand for analogue, brutally light sports cars actually sits, and Britain in particular has never lacked buyers for that recipe. A 780 kg car with 600 hp, no power steering unless you ask, and a switch that lets you turn the engine down is aimed squarely at people who already know exactly what they want.
The catch is the queue. Fewer than 30 cars across seven markets, with more than half of total production already sold and deliveries three years out, means this is a very short conversation for most people. Worth having anyway.
