What's the news?
First there was the gold-lined McLaren F1, long the fastest car in the world. Then came the P1, McLaren's hybrid entry into the holy hypercar trifecta alongside the Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 918. This year we saw the introduction of the Senna, another car of truly terrifying performance. Now, McLaren has named the next instalment in this, its Ultimate Series.
Until now, the Speedtail, as it has been christened, was known as the BP23, which stood for "Bespoke Project 2, 3 Seater", which gives us some idea of what this car is going to be. Whilst awe-inspiring, the P1 and Senna aren't quite direct F1 successors. The Speedtail could very well be. Even the name harks backs to the long-tailed McLaren F1 GTRs, the GT race versions of the road car that graced the spectators at Le Mans with the snarl of its BMW V12. It's certainly a more evocative moniker than the number and alphabet soup of its other models and that name likely hints at something sleek and streamlined, as you might expect.
The Speedtail however is not to be some stripped-down track-car. According to McLaren, the Speedtail will be the company's most luxurious creation to date, using a similar three-seat, central-driving-position setup to the old F1. In addition to being the most luxurious McLaren, it's also expected to be the fastest, so considering the F1 topped-out at 388km/h, that should mean that the Speedtail ought to be able to manage around 400km/h. That will be courtesy of a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain and though there's obviously no definite word on performance yet, McLaren claims that it will be, at the very least, "extreme".
Anything else?
We know that everyone wants one, but alas our hyper-car-fancying plans have been foiled again. Each Speedtail, customised to its owner's tastes by McLaren Special Operations, will cost around €1.8 million, which would be fine, but for the fact that all 106 examples are sold and have been since November 2016. Ugh, why do they do this to us?