McLaren Grand Tourer Supercar Launch Nears

McLaren releases photographs depicting a prototype of its upcoming Grand Tourer model being tested on U.K. roads ahead of the new 2-door supercar’s planned unveiling in May.

The photos reveal the new model with less camouflage than the Grand Tourer prototype revealed earlier this year at the Geneva auto show, providing the best look yet at its production bodywork and exterior detailing.

The low and wide mid-engine supercar receives a long front overhang to accommodate a front cargo compartment described as being large and functional enough for long-distance touring.

Key design elements include a low front end housing McLaren’s distinctive teardrop-shaped headlamps, a heavily raked windshield, long doors, large air ducts ahead of the rear wheel arches, wide LED taillamps, a multichannel diffuser and an active rear spoiler that sits flush with the bodywork when it is not deployed.

The Grand Tourer is planned to adopt the same mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout as the rest of the U.K. supercar maker’s range, with power coming from a twin-turbocharged gasoline V-8 shared with other McLaren models.

McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt says the new model will be the lightest and fastest car in its class, with a power-to-weight ratio bettering that of every potential rival.

“It will be a car that combines competition levels of performance with continent-crossing capability, wrapped in a beautiful lightweight body. It’s a car that has been designed for distance and one that will also provide the comfort and space expected of a grand tourer,” he says.

Flewitt also claims the Grand Tourer will offer class-leading handling.

“It will have a level of agility never experienced before in this segment,” he says. “In addition, it will be one of the quickest.”

The Grand Tourer is the fourth model to be developed under the automaker’s Track 25 business plan, which calls for the introduction of 18 new McLaren models by 2025.

Flewitt indicates the idea for the new model was inspired by the success of the McLaren 570GT. “It has attracted a lot of new customers to McLaren, and what it has taught us is that there is a market for an even more considered GT variant in our range,” he says. “Where the 570GT is a variant, this will be a car created with this market in mind. It won’t replace the 570GT, but I can see it superseding it in time.”

Before the launch of the Grand Tourer in May, McLaren says it will continue developing the new model, including a 1,000-mile (1,610-km) drive from the automaker’s development base near Barcelona, Spain, to its Technology Centre in Woking, England.