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Is this McLaren's anticipated 570S GT?

McLaren is planning an additional body style for its new Sports Series. The British supercar manufacturer told us that before we drove the new 570S coupe in Portugal last month. And now we're seeing the prototype for that new version undergoing testing. Woking introduced the Sports Series in coupe form this year and will follow up with the convertible in 2017. This new version is expected to arrive in between, sometime in the second quarter of the new year. The big question is just what form this bodystyle will take. At the launch, McLaren spokesman Wayne Bruce confirmed the variant will still use the same mid-engined layout and carbon monocoque chassis as the company's other cars. He also discounted the possibility of a more extreme speedster (like it did with the Mercedes SLR), and confirmed that a longtail version like the 675LT would not, in the company''s estimation, be considered a distinct bodystyle. Based on earlier reports of ideas being thrown around Frank Stephenson's design studio, and from what we're seeing here, it appears that the new addition will be some sort of GT version. The modified roofline would seem to be incorporating a larger luggage compartment, enhancing the prospect of driving the sports car on a daily basis. We can expect this new model to be mechanically identical to the existing coupe. That means a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 driving 562 horsepower (in 570S spec) to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Related Video:

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BMW M boss denies supercar collaboration with McLaren

The first time there was a McLaren Honda Formula 1 team, McLaren did some moonlighting with BMW on a supercar for all time, the F1. It just so happens that McLaren Honda is a thing again, and Car magazine recently ran a piece saying McLaren and BMW would get back together on another hopped-up coupe with roughly the same working agreement as before: BMW supplies a screaming V8, McLaren builds the body to go around it. Only this time the car would be a BMW model, not a McLaren, and be BMW's version of the next-generation McLaren 650S. The Car piece said that BMW head of R&D Klaus Frolich first got in touch with McLaren nine months ago, however, the head of BMW's M division, Frank van Meel, said he doesn't know anything about it. Mentioning every BMW exec referred to in the story, van Meel told Australia's Motoring, "I haven't had a phone call, [CEO] Harald Kruger hasn't had a phone call, and Klaus Frohlich hasn't had a phone call." The Car story said the reason BMW hasn't done a conventionally powered exotic recently is that former CEO Norbert Reithofer didn't want anything to eclipse the i8, the i brand, and the eco credentials the brand is charged with promoting. Changes in the executive suite – new CEO, new M boss, new R&D chief – were thought to meant changes in approach. Not according to van Meel, who gave those same i brand reasons to Motoring as then reasons BMW has no interest in a 750-horsepower, quad-turbo coupe. On top of that, after spending billions to move the game forward with in-house carbon fiber technology, van Meel asked, "I don't understand why we would need to work with McLaren for a supercar anyway. All of the technologies the story suggested are technologies that are core competences here at BMW and at M. Nobody in the world is more advanced with carbon-fibre than we are." The extent of the denial is so detailed that we're inclined to believe BMW on this one; cover stories usually stop at curt phrases like "We have no knowledge of that" or "We don't comment on future product." So you can put away your dreams of a McLaren F1 Part Two. For now. Related Video: