More details have emerged on McLaren’s forthcoming smaller sports car, which until now has only been known by its internal project code of P13. The only thing the official release tells us that we didn’t already know is that the new car will be called the Sports Series, and that it will be making its global debut next year.
But some digging has also backed up the story we exclusively brought you in May that McLaren is planning to offer three different versions of the new car. As you’d expect, there will be both coupe and an open-topped spyder, but, as we reported at the time, McLaren is also planning an extended version of the car with a luggage space behind the engine and a concave rear screen that’s been described to us by a company insider as being similar to that of a Ferrari 206GT Dino.
There’s no official confirmation on that, of course, but McLaren did register “Longtail” as a trademark back in June, which is the sort of evidence an ambitious prosecutor would use to make a strong circumstantial case.
We know the Sports Series will be built around the same carbon-fiber tub as the existing 650S and P1, and we’re pretty much certain it will be powered by a downtuned version of the 650S’s twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V-8 and share that car’s twin-clutch transmission. Expect it to be priced as a rival to the upper reaches of the Porsche 911 and new Audi R8 ranges.
On the heels of the nomenclature news, the British firm also dropped two teaser images. The most revealing of them shows the front-end of a P13 prototype covered in rather stylish camouflage and a dainty bra, carving around a corner under load. The other is simply a close-up of its roof and windshield, prominently featuring the #blackswanmoments hashtag (more on that in a second).
Clearly, the P13 shares many of its design elements with the 650S, including the arcing roofline, stalk-mounted exterior mirrors, and headlamps with LED running lamps on their outer edges. In this case, the distinctive LEDs are rendered in smooth light tubes versus individual bulbs, a look we expect the 650S to adopt sooner than later. The P13’s front fascia goes its own way, however, with a lower lip that looks a bit more driveway-friendly that those of its pricier siblings. The door cutline implies that the P13 may adopt the same swan-wing door design as McLaren’s other products, and the view through the passenger window shows a high-mounted side air intake—ahem, Dino-style—versus the fat mid-door intakes of the 650S and P1.
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Finally, McLaren has also launched a campaign to promote the forthcoming car through what it’s describing as “Black Swan Moments”—yes, we’re thinking of Natalie Portman, too—with the promise of 13 supporting videos before we see the car. Just hurry it up already, we say.
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