It had some clumsy details, too, but because McLaren Automotive thinks, in some ways, like its Formula 1 division, it responds very quickly, and things have been getting better and better since.
The 12C soon followed the MP4-12C – faster turbo response, more power – and early MP4-12C customers received free upgrades to the 12C’s spec.
A convertible came next – barely heavier or less rigid than the coupé – then a second model series with the astonishing P1 hypercar, and then the 650S to sit above the 12C.
The 650S was meant to add a little more focus but, well, everybody just wanted a 650S and not a 12C, so McLaren reacted, again, and the 12C was dropped, again with existing owners getting some 650S juiciness plugged back in.
What came instead was a car to sit above the 650S, the limited-run 675LT, which feels more like a P1 than 650S in terms of speed.
It’s an extraordinary number of models to preside over in just five years, and each one is a little more compelling than the last.
And that brings us, more or less, to the 570S and McLaren model line number three: the Sports Series, sitting under the Super Series (650S, 675LT) and Ultimate Series (previously P1, now dormant).
