2021 Mclaren Gt on 2040-cars

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McLaren launches 650S Le Mans edition, Sports Series to offer 4 variants

Even before you take other model lines into consideration, Porsche has done quite a job broadening its 911 range with an ever-expanding array of variants – from different engines and transmissions to distinct body styles. Little wonder, then, that its rivals are working to emulate the same model. Just the other day, we brought you news that Mercedes is planning to follow a similar formula with its 911-baiting AMG GT, and now it seems McLaren is preparing to go the same route as well. As we reported back in March, the upcoming McLaren Sport Series – which will take on the upper end of the 911 family – will be offered in multiple body styles. Just how many, exactly, we still don't know for sure, but Holland's Autovisie reports that the baby Mac will spawn "at least four variants" – which could explain the "Series" part of the nameplate. The first version we're expecting to see in New York will likely be the standard coupe. That will be followed by a Spider version just like there's been of the 12C and 650S. But those won't be the end of the story. This past June, reports suggested that McLaren was planning a GT version with an "unconventional trunk." Autovisie now reports that it'll encompass a luggage compartment fitted over the engine and accessible from the side, making the prospect of driving Woking's smallest every day a more realistic one – relatively speaking, that is. This could take the form of the Shooting Brake rumored to be in the works years ago. But what about the fourth variant, you asked? That could come down to a GTR model. McLaren has already announced that it's bringing the track-bound P1 GTR to the Geneva Motor Show, and just the other day we reported on the possibility of a 650 GTR that would essentially fill in for the previous 12C Can-Am edition. A similar hard-core treatment could feasibly be applied to the Sports Series as well, whether bound to the track or open to use on public roads as well. The proliferation of variants wouldn't be without precedent for Working, after all. The original McLaren F1 bred GTR and LM versions, though they were almost too rare to count. The SLR it built for Mercedes spawned more derivatives than we would dare count. The MP4-12C gave us a few as well. And the 650S has already appeared in coupe, Spider, 625C and soon GTR versions. So the idea of the company's upcoming entry-level model following the same path would only make sense.

McLaren planning P13 GT with unconventional trunk

It was just a couple of months ago that we last brought you word on P13, the project being undertaken by McLaren to slot in a new entry-level model below the above-pictured 650S. Speaking with McLaren personnel at the launch of the latter, we said that the P13 would come in multiple bodystyles – which is to say, more than just a coupe and convertible. Now Car and Driver says it knows what that third bodystyle will be. According to an unnamed inside source in Woking, C/D reports that, in addition to a two-seat coupe and Spider, the P13 (or whatever it's ultimately called for public consumption) will be offered as a GT model. And just what will the difference be between the coupe and GT, you ask? Not necessarily the addition of extra seats in the back: according to Car and Driver, that will be a luggage compartment aft of the engine and passenger compartment. The resulting form, we understand, will resemble a Jaguar E-Type coupe, which could be what we were actually hearing about a couple of years ago when rumors surfaced of a 12C shooting brake in the works. One way or another, it would be an interesting development, potentially as novel as the Ferrari FF but at the opposite end of the spectrum and with its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 – albeit slightly detuned – still located amidships and still driving the rear wheels through a seven-speed DCT. We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out, but with Frank Stephenson working on the design, we bet it'll be a stunner, if a slightly unconventional one.

UK car output falls 14% in March, may get worse with no-deal Brexit

LONDON — British car output fell for the 10th month in a row in March, hit by a slowdown in key foreign markets, and the sector stands to suffer a lot more if the country leaves the European Union without a deal, an industry body said on Tuesday. Output tumbled by an annual 14.4 percent to 126,195 cars in March, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said. Exports, which account for nearly four out of every five cars made in Britain, were down by 13.4 percent. The SMMT said analysis it had commissioned predicted output would fall this year to 1.36 million units from 1.52 million in 2018, assuming London can secure a transition deal with the EU. If Britain has to rely instead on World Trade Organization rules for its trade with the bloc, which include import tariffs, output is forecast to fall by around 30 percent to 1.07 million units in 2021, returning to mid-1980s levels, the SMMT said. The forecasts were produced for SMMT by AutoAnalysis, a consultancy. Prime Minister Theresa May has secured a delay to the Brexit deadline until Oct. 31, giving her more time to try to break an impasse in parliament over the terms of Britain's departure from the EU. Foreign minister Jeremy Hunt traveled to Japan earlier this month to try to persuade the Japanese government and Toyota, which has a big presence in Britain, that London was determined to avoid a no-deal Brexit. "Just a few years ago, industry was on track to produce 2 million cars by 2020 — a target now impossible with Britain's reputation as stable and attractive business environment undermined," SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said. "All parties must find a compromise urgently so we can set about repairing the damage and diverting energy and investment to the technological challenges that will define the future of the global industry." (Reporting by William Schomberg, editing by David Milliken)