McLaren brings curtain down on 750S
After a decade at the coalface, McLaren will officially retire arguably its greatest ever car next year
Almost as pertinent as the questions asked about its future during McLaren’s rebrand briefing were those posed about its present: specifically, which of its current models would fall off the production line first? Now we know for certain. The manufacturer today confirmed that the 750S, the backbone of its senior-grade supercar proposition - and in many ways its finest hour - will be retired permanently next year.
Certainly, the model has earned a moment of quiet reflection. Launched in 2017, the 720 moved the game on considerably from where its predecessor, the 650S, had taken it - no mean feat. Many of its changes were evolutionary, yet they were wholesale and hugely significant. The carbon fibre monocoque was lighter and stiffer, the chassis was cleverer and lighter and the engine, the M840T was larger and much livelier.
For most people’s money, it looked better, too. There was a feeling internally that the 650S wasn’t dramatic enough to compete with its (Italian) rivals; the 720S saw to that. Granted, McLaren did too poor a job of distinguishing later versions - your powers of observation need to be Sherlock-grade to tell them apart - but that was chiefly a repeat buyer grumble. To the man on the street, this was a quintessential mid-engine supercar in all its swoop-y glory.
It drove like that, too. The 720S was astonishingly fast. The 750S even more so. Perhaps there were times when McLaren seemed overly obsessed with its benchmarking and data logging, but on a road (or circuit) its headliner could mix it with any car you’d car to imagine. Yet it was uniquely and wonderfully drivable, riding like a luxury saloon and turning with the feedback of a go-kart. On a B road it would shrink around you - no mean feat when it was simultaneously attempting to tear your ears off.
McLaren launched the 788HS back in the summer as a run-out model - one that allows a purchaser to run wild on the MSO personalisation front - though it is arguably less interesting than the secondhand options. And we say that because you can have a ten-year-old 720S from around £130k, which is fairly astonishing value when you consider the level of performance on offer. A Ferrari 488 GTB starts at around £25k more, and is 50hp down on the McLaren.
As for the 750S, you’ll need £200k. Which is more than it will cost you to buy a Ferrari 296 of similar vintage - telling you all you need to know about the difference between a turbocharged V8 and a hybridised V6. We’re partial to this one, in Ventura Orange. Alternatively, McLaren says it’s in the process of taking ‘final orders’, so you might still have time to buy into the model’s ‘extraordinary legacy’. Either way, perhaps now more than ever, we heartedly recommend you do.
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