“The McLaren of Grand Tourers” Is Coming and Here Are the First Photos

As unannounced car names go, “The McLaren of Grand Tourers” isn’t half-bad, right? It’s no Cadillac of hamburgers, of course, but hey, what is? (No, really, what’s the Cadillac of hamburgers? We’re hungry.) Fortunately, we won’t have to wait much longer to learn the name of McLaren’s first GT since the Can-Am–derived M6GT, or to see what it looks like beneath the camouflage.

Although it’s still wearing a camouflage wrap, the images here are the first official shots of the car without the bulky, form-obscuring blocks and panels previously applied. Why the partial strip down? Because the final stretch of development is used to assess aerodynamic performance, noise characteristics, and test other aspects of the car that can’t be locked down with the obscuring bits in the way.

Promising true grand-touring cred, McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt announced the car at the 2019 Geneva auto show. The MoGT is said to be a continent-crosser with “a level of agility never experienced before in the luxury Grand Tourer segment.” That’s quite the shot across the Porsche 911 Turbo S’s bow. Not only that, but the MoGT promises “competition levels of performance” while still being “comfortable and refined over the long distances a grand tourer is expected to consume.”

Unlike the cars comprising McLaren’s Sport, Super, and Ultimate series, the MoGT won’t be based on any other vehicle line; it will be its own car. Despite that independence of form, McLaren says it will share some DNA with the Speedtail, which it calls a “Hyper-GT.” Pricing is expected to start at around $200,000 when deliveries start in July or August, according to Flewitt, who promises the car will be the lightest and best-driving car in its segment. A total of 500 units are planned for this year, some 40 percent of which are earmarked for North America.

McLaren is confident enough in its work on the MoGT thus far to also announce plans for a 1,000-mile drive from its development base near Barcelona, Spain, to the company’s headquarters in Woking, England, with this sleeker camouflage skin in place. The drive is to be completed at a single go, with two occupants, and a full complement of luggage in the cargo area(s).

The camouflage wrap will then come off, apparently piece by piece, starting April 30 and continuing through the full reveal sometime in May.

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