Wednesday 29th October 2008

New McLaren Lineup

British firm to go 911 hunting?

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911 may no longer have market to itself

Ron Dennis and McLaren could be plotting not one, but three new supercars to replace the Mercedes McLaren SLR – including a 60k ‘starter’ model aimed at kicking the Porsche 911 where it hurts.

The revelation that McLaren is planning a trio of new models comes from the good folk at Car, who claim to have had the story substantiated by a couple of sources.

The article says McLaren’s development plans – post SLR – include a major business expansion and three new models. The first is the widely reported P11 supercar aimed squarely the Ferrari 430, but this will be followed with another high-end model – perhaps with ‘Grand Touring’ aspirations – and then the £60k McLaren sportscar.

Recent appointments at McLaren appear to back a story like this. The company recently appointed top auto designer Frank Stephenson to design director, and Mazda UK’s former md Rob Lindley is now McLaren sales and marketing director.

It seems reasonable to surmise high profile appointments like this would not be needed for the P11 project alone, and McLaren has also recently advertised for composite technicians with experience of ‘high volume’ production.

[MrTappets]

I can hardly wait

Edited by MrTappets on Wednesday 29th October 13:04

[MrTappets]

To be honsest though, stuff is always being aimed squarely at the 911. Farbio GTS springs to mind...

[uriel]

Hopefully this is part 1 of McLaren's plan B so they can tell Spanky Mosely to stick F1 up his arse when things go pear shaped.

[VladD]

Letter from Ron Dennis to Max Mosely.

Dear Max,

Thanks for your letter. I can confirm that McLaren are committed to Formula 1 for the forseeable future. We have no plans to switch our efforts to a different racing series.

Love,

Ron.

p.s. Have you seen our 3 new road cars? We haven't got names yet, but someone suggested LM GT1, LM GT2 and LM GT3. What do you think?

[DeadMeat_UK]

Why would you pay 60k for an everyday car, but that you can only get serviced and maintained by the factory, rather than one with a whole dealer network and specialist backing behind it.

It'll have to be extra extra special, no ?

Unless it'll just be suitable for garage jewelry, or weekend/trackday toy, in which case it's not a 911 rival.

[VladD]

DeadMeat_UK said:

Why would you pay 60k for an everyday car, but that you can only get serviced and maintained by the factory, rather than one with a whole dealer network and specialist backing behind it.

Because it's a McLaren.

[dom9]

I have a 911... If I could have a McLaren for £60k that looks good and goes great - Then I am in!

I expect the McLaren dealers/ factory will treat us better than the Porsche OPC's...

I wonder what the warranty is like

[Mr MoJo]

If this is going to work, Rob Lindley is the man to market it

[Plotloss]

The lifelong dream of owning a car with a Mclaren badge on it inches closer

[toohuge]

Hopefully Mclaren Cars will maintain there excellent customer service. I had the pleasure of dealing with them on a few occasions and it was impeccable. Im in.

[Droptheclutch]

Mmm, mmm!

Wonderful news, I can hardly wait to see what eventuates.

If Mclaren do aim a car at the 911, it may be able to be serviced at their good friends, Merc? Just a thought...this would appeal to those not local to the south east, I am sure.

[oagent]

Who will be providing the engines for this trio?

[Droptheclutch]

oagent said:

Who will be providing the engines for this trio?

Merc, perhaps? Could mean ease of service in the future...

[sprinter885]

So BMW planning new supercar, Aston producing the "One 77", and McLaren entering the volume market...

.. do they know something about the current economic "climate" that nobody else does????

or are they really going to be for the "select few" !!

[dpbird90]

oagent said:

Who will be providing the engines for this trio?

If Autocar is to be believed, it will be either the same 5.5 V8 out of the SLR, but with the supercharger whacked up a notch, or their latest 6.3 V8 with said huge whacked up supercharger bolted on for good measure. Autocar have done an artist's rendering on this week's cover of what it might look like (given a few disguised prototypes are circling Woking at the minute) and it looks astonishing. As I mentioned elsewhere, think Gallardo Sypder, Carrera GT and Koenigsegg mixed together (the best bits of each) and painted in lovely F1 LM Orange (proper name Papaya Orange) it looks fantastic. And also BMW are supposedly making a competitor based on that M1 Hommage but "greener". Who cares about green-ness when the new McLaren is going to be around?

The only question that remains; Flemke, have you put your order in yet?

[[AJ]]

dom9 said:

I have a 911... If I could have a McLaren for £60k that looks good and goes great - Then I am in!

I expect the McLaren dealers/ factory will treat us better than the Porsche OPC's...

I wonder what the warranty is like

I'm with you on this one. I love my 911, but this sounds very exciting indeed!

[Munich]

DeadMeat_UK said:

Why would you pay 60k for an everyday car, but that you can only get serviced and maintained by the factory, rather than one with a whole dealer network and specialist backing behind it.

It'll have to be extra extra special, no ?

Unless it'll just be suitable for garage jewelry, or weekend/trackday toy, in which case it's not a 911 rival.

Wouldn't McLaren use the Mercedes Benz dealer network? The cars will probably have their engines.

[Gizmo!]

Yes, I reckon the engine will be Merc-derived. But you've all missed a cunning point. What is the one thing that the F1 cars, the F1 and the McSLR have in common?

Carbon fibre! I think we may soon see the world's first 'mass produced' carbon fibre car. Could be very very light and very very quick!

[Getaway Driver]

[AJ] said:

dom9 said:

I have a 911... If I could have a McLaren for £60k that looks good and goes great - Then I am in!

I expect the McLaren dealers/ factory will treat us better than the Porsche OPC's...

I wonder what the warranty is like

I'm with you on this one. I love my 911, but this sounds very exciting indeed!

+1

[mark3man]

sprinter885 said:

So BMW planning new supercar, Aston producing the "One 77", and McLaren entering the volume market...

.. do they know something about the current economic "climate" that nobody else does????

or are they really going to be for the "select few" !!

The pundits talk of a recession lasting 15 / 18 months.
Given they would start slow and gradually educate the dealer network to service the daily driver version 'round the corner' from owners' homes, I'd suspect those service people may be MB dealers worldwide. This cannot just be a 'supercar' concept, building one a week or a month. Serious low volume assembly, lot of bought in sub-assemblies. That is how manufacture works. Gone are the days when Dennis (at Guildford, not far from Woking) had their own foundry for their own modest needs in terrms of blocks.
As for the more expensive versions, well, there are people making money still - even if they are not bankers.
Lawyers are booming as the writs start to fly.