UPDATE: McLaren 650S - teased

458 Speciale chasing 12C derivative previewed ahead of Geneva debut (Updated with leaked images)

By Dan Trent / Monday, 17 February 2014 / Loading comments

UPDATE: Official stories on the McLaren 650S remain on ice but a growing number of websites are now showing supposed leaked official shots of the McLaren 650S and, with them, offering more info. The 650hp headline figure was a clue in the title matter but additional reported figures include 500lb ft of torque, 0-62 in three seconds, 207mph top speed and a weight of 1,330kg. That's only 6kg shy of the dry weight of a standard 12C so assuming that's a like for like figure not much less than the standard car. Pics as leaked and links to the sites from which they came below, along with our original story as posted last week.

So the great game of dodge the embargo begins. PH, like many other in the business, yesterday saw the McLaren 650S that has been teased in an official press release today. But on a strict need to know basis.

The official line announced just a short time ago, such as it is, amounts to a single photo and a statement as follows: “Designed and developed to offer the enthusiast driver the ultimate in luxury, engagement and excitement, as well as dramatic yet beautiful styling, the McLaren 650S is the result of 50 years of competing, and winning, at the highest levels of motorsport. It takes learnings from both the 12C as well as the sell-out McLaren P1 and will be positioned between the two on McLaren Automotive’s supercar grid.”

Autocar’s Steve Cropley has been the boldest so far in the reporting of the story but most have run with the ‘650’ referring to the power output. Prefixed with lots of careful ‘is thought to’ and ‘sources say’, Autocar’s story goes further and discusses a “P1-style nose” and a boast that the 650S “will be engineered to have more character than the existing car.”

If that claimed output is correct the 650S will have won the horsepower bragging rights battle over the 605hp 458 Speciale, the latter countering that a normally aspirated V8 revving to 9,000rpm is probably all the engineering you need to increase character. Certainly it’ll renew the existing rivalry between McLaren’s ‘junior’ supercars while we consider just how LaFerrari might top the McLaren P1.

So, if not the epic hypercar face off we saw last year with the P1 and LaFerrari, the 650S and new California T promise another McLaren-Ferrari battle for attention at Geneva. One Lamborghini threatens to overshadow with a proper all-new car this time, not just an aero bedecked fright pig knocked up in a rush to try and gatecrash the party.

[Sources: Autocar, Jalopnik, WorldCarFans, Autoevolution, McLarenLife]