McLaren’s Upcoming Million-Dollar Speedster Will Be Its Lightest Road Car Ever
McLaren is only making 399 of them, so if you’re itching for an open-cockpit thrill-mobile, you best get in line.
McLaren had already confirmed to The Drive last month that the company was talking to potential customers about a new open-cockpit, two-seat Ultimate Series model to take on the Ferrari Monza SP2. Now, the British supercar firm is making it official, confirming the model's existence and releasing a teaser image at this week's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Set to debut in late 2020, the unnamed McLaren speedster will be limited to 399 cars and carry a price tag somewhere between the $958,966 Senna and the $2.55 million Speedtail. While the former's talents lie on the track and the latter is made for ludicrous straight-line speed, the new car will apparently deliver massive doses of "road-focused driving pleasure and an unrivaled sense of driver connection with the surrounding environment"—just as the previous rumors predicted.
Judging from the teased profile view, its design looks a bit like a 720S Spider with its windshield taken off and drizzled with a bit of Ultimate Series special sauce. It'll be powered by "a version" of McLaren's existing twin-turbo V8, use the company's trademark carbon fiber construction and, get this, be the lightest McLaren road car to date. Who knew roofs and glass weighed so much?
Per McLaren boss Mike Flewitt, "At McLaren Automotive we are consistently pushing the boundaries to deliver the purest and most engaging driving experience whether for the road or track. Our two current Ultimate Series cars, the Senna and Speedtail, offer unique and distinct driving experiences. Now this new addition to the Ultimate Series, an open-cockpit roadster, will take road-focused driving pleasure to new levels."
