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McLaren wants you to drift your 720S

The next generation of McLaren's Super Series is nearly at hand, and today the British purveyor of speed released a camouflaged car shown during testing. While this is a bit anticlimactic – we saw the car last week in this Instagram leak – the image does show off the 720S (its expected name) in action with a trail of smoke. That's critical. The chassis will have a new feature called Variable Drift Control, which lets you modulate the electronic stability control by swiping your finger across the infotainment system. We can't wait to try that. The system is part of McLaren's Proactive Chassis II, which has 12 more sensors than the chassis in McLaren's current Super Series that's anchored by the 650S. The system is able to read inputs and gauge tire patch, allowing it to adjust suspension damping to adapt to driving conditions. Naturally, McLaren says this improves cornering, handling, grip, and comfort. The 720S will be able to drive in Comfort, Sport, or Track chassis settings. "Proactive Chassis Control II generates a significant amount of additional grip, but not at the expense of the balance and feel of the car," Mark Vinnels, McLaren Automotive executive director of product development, said in a statement. The 720S, which uses the codename P14, will be revealed in March at the Geneva Motor Show. Related Video:

McLaren 600LT Spider revealed: Top-down performance

In internet parlance, a long tail is a story or topic that endures, that people stick with over a long time. That idea could be translated in automotive terms to a classic. McLaren's Longtail models are modern classics, and the bespoke sports car maker has just minted its fifth Longtail, the 600LT Spider. McLaren promises the droptop has all the track-flavored performance of the 600LT coupe, with the "added exhilaration of open-air driving." With a top-down top speed of 196 mph, that's a lot of added exhilaration. (It's 201 mph with the top up.) And just imagine the tune from those top-exit exhausts just aft of your head. McLaren says it managed to limit the weight gain in the Spider to 110 pounds over the coupe, and cites a dry weight of 2,859 pounds. Well, 2,859.4, to be McLaren-exact. That's 220 pounds lighter than the 570S Spider from which this car is derived, and lighter than its exotic competitors. Customers can also order their cars with seats from the Senna and with radio and climate control delete for maximum weight loss. Much of the weight savings credit goes the car's carbon fiber MonoCell II chassis that, even with the roof cut off, remains as rigid as the coupe without any added reinforcements. As for power, McLaren cites 592 hp and 457 pound-feet of torque from its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8. That's 4.82 pounds per horsepower, for a 0-to-60 time of 2.8 seconds, on par with the coupe. You surely won't even notice that the Spider's time to 200 kph (124 mph) at 8.4 seconds is 0.2 seconds slower than the coupe. All that power is delivered by a dual-clutch seven-speed transmission. An Ignition Cut feature in Sport mode is said to facilitate faster shifting "whilst delivering a dramatic aural crack from the top-exit exhausts." A feature called Inertia Push (isn't all driving an inertia push?) is supposed to boost acceleration in Track mode. The retractable three-piece hardtop can be operated at speeds to 25 mph. It stows into a tonneau cover behind the seats that can provide a bit more storage when the top is up. And even the Pirelli P Zero™ Trofeo R tires are bespoke, "for track-focused dynamics." The Spider is available to order now, starting at $256,500. Related Video:

McLaren looks to Asia and hybrid cars as next steps toward IPO

DETROIT — British exotic sports car maker McLaren Automotive will bank on expanded sales in Asia and a new generation of hybrid cars as it steers toward a potential public offering, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday. "We need to put more cars into Asia," McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt said in a meeting with reporters in Detroit. Sales of McLaren's carbon fibre and aluminium sports cars, which start at about $200,000 in the United States, have fallen in the United Kingdom, its largest market. Flewitt said that reflects uncertainty over Brexit. Demand in the United States and in Asian markets outside of China remains strong, he said. McLaren plans to open dealerships in Vietnam and the Philippines, Flewitt said. "The next big ones are India and Russia. We're not in either and probably should be." Flewitt has said in the past that the owners of the McLaren Group, led by Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund, are considering an initial public offering by 2025. An IPO will likely come after all parts of the group, including McLaren Racing and a unit that markets technology, are generating cash, he said on Tuesday. Exotic sports car makers have a mixed record on public markets. Ferrari NV <RACE.MI> has been one of the auto sector's best-performing stocks, up 68% this year. However, British premium sports car maker Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings <AML.L> has suffered a 59% decline. McLaren sold about 4,800 cars in 2018, and is on track for a slightly lower number in 2019, Flewitt said. An important piece of McLaren's expansion strategy will be unveiled next spring — a hybrid car with a new architecture under the skin. However, McLaren does not plan to follow its rivals into the SUV market. "We couldn't afford to do it," Flewitt said, adding, "it just doesn't fit the brand." By 2024, McLaren will have additional production capacity coming online to increase sales to 6,000 cars a year — if the company can hit that volume without sacrificing profit margins, Flewitt said. Profitability plays a role in McLaren's decision, so far, not to develop an all-electric car, Flewitt said. Eventually, the super car niche will go electric, but for McLaren that will have to wait for lighter, lower-cost, solid-state batteries to be ready for commercial use, he said. "Nobody is out there making money with electric cars," he said. "We can do what we need to do with hybrids." Green McLaren Performance