Here’s the first glimpse of McLaren’s new 200mph supercar, third new model from Woking in as many months. Yes, we know, you can only see half the car. So what’s behind that 720S front end? Maybe a Longtail? A hybrid? Or maybe even that much-mooted but always-denied SUV…
A convertible McLaren 720S is coming
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Our money’s on none of the above but the new model a lot of McLaren fans will be keenly waiting for: the 720S Spider. All McLaren is saying is that it is about to “raise the roof” on a new supercar which will have its full unveiling on 8 December.
A convertible version of the 720S is definitely due. The Woking firm currently has only one convertible in the range, the 570S Spider from the Sports Series, and come next spring will surely be keen to offer the 720S’s acclaimed performance with added wind in the hair.
That would be two years after the 720S coupe went on sale and three years since the last Super Series convertible, the limited-edition 675LT Spider. All 500 of those sold out, in two weeks. It’s not expected that any new 720S Spider will be limited in production.
The 720S comes with impeccable credentials but as a follow-up to the 675LT Spider, and the 650S Spider before that, it has a helluva act to follow in convertible form. The 675LT soft-top clocked 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds – same as the 720S coupe – on its way to a top speed of 203mph.
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The way McLaren builds its convertibles should ensure this level of performance is maintained. As brilliantly shown by the 570S Spider, Woking’s cars keep all of their rigidity without any weight gain when the roof gets the chop, thanks to their carbon centre structure and carefully optimised aerodynamics. This has always ensured McLaren convertibles go and handle as well as their coupe brothers, and that will surely be the aim here.
What sort of top will it get? The 570S Spider arrangement of two-piece electrically retractable hard-top works well so our money’s on a system similar to that. Quite what design magic design chief Rob Melville has wrought in turning coupe into convertible we will have to wait until December 8th to discover.
New McLarens have recently been coming thick and fast, with the 570S Spider, 600LT, Senna, Senna GTR and Speedtail arriving this year alone. The 720S Spider is actually the second car (after the Speedtail) in Woking’s Track25 business plan that was announced here at Goodwood at this year’s Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard. So 16 more new models and variants to go by the end of 2015
We’ll be here counting ‘em!
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