McLaren Aiming at 911 with New P13

Even with those big carbon brakes, McLaren is showing no sign of slowing down. How many two-seat sportscars can one company make? McLaren is on a mission to find out. After launching its new automotive division with the MP4-12C, the F1 team turned exotic automaker went a step further with the new P1. Both are two-seat, mid-engined sportscars. So what’s next? Why, another two-seat, mid-engined sportscar, of course! Don’t get us wrong, we’re not complaining here. We’re always down for another supercar, especially from such an excellent source as McLaren.

So if the 12C is positioned against the Ferrari 458 Italia and the P1 against LaFerrari, where will McLaren’s next product take aim? At the Porsche 911. Or at the upper end of the 911 range, specifically, which would pit the next McLaren against the upcoming 911 Turbo and maybe the next GT2. Woking has been rumored to have a 911 rival in the pipeline for a while now, but Motor Trend has assembled some prospective details in anticipation. Since both the 12C and P1 use a version of the 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 developed for McLaren by Ricardo, expect the M838T to find its way into the new "baby Mac".

Only where it produces 727 horsepower in the P1 and 616 in the latest version of the 12C, in this case it would likely produce somewhere in the 500-horsepower range – similar to the 12C GT3 restricted by racing regulations. The "pre-select" seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox is likely to feature as well, channeling those 500+ horses to the rear wheels. Codenamed P13, the new McLaren is tipped to get a sub-$200k price tag and be built in numbers exceeding 2,000 units per annum to make it the most prolific McLaren to date. Expect the car to debut (in some form or another) sometime next year.