McLaren 675LT Spider Leaks, Certain 675LT Coupe Owners Angry About the Release

The clip seems to come from a member of the mclarenlife forums, being a copy of the original video, which had purportedly been uploaded by Woking itself and removed shortly after.

As with any McLaren model, the weight penalty brought by the foldable roof will be negligible - expect this to sit at around 90 lbs (40 kg). McLaren’s carbon fiber tub gets the credit for this one.

Borrowing the coupe’s tune for the company’s 3.8-liter V8, the Spider will bless its owners with 666 hp (hence our demonic horns screenshot choice above) or 675 PS. Maximum twist will sit at 516 lb-ft (700 Nm).

While releasing a vehicle that crosses the border between supercar and hypercar land should, in theory, be a brilliant move, there’s a twist here.

As multiple users of the forum mentioned above write, many of them having already taken delivery of their 675LT coupes or at least having placed orders, customers of the fixed-roof model aren’t exactly happy about McLaren’s decision to also release a Spider.

You see, Woking initially said there would be no such thing, with 675 Longtail clients being promised a 500-unit exclusivity.

We are a bit surprised to realize how angry some of these folks are, especially after seeing them mentioning the possibility of a “big protest and a mass cancelling of orders.”

As it happens on Tesla forums, these people are normally extremely faithful to the brand - the similitude to the Silicon Valley EV maker is no surprise - both McLaren and Tesla are young companies that pay close attention to their clientele, leading the industry in terms of upgrades created following customer feedback.

One forum member claims he has discussed with McLaren people and wants to share his view on why the company decided to also build a Spider for the Longtail. Here are the man's thoughts.

1. They [McLaren] significantly underestimated demand for the LT coupe. As of November, customers are contacting them directly on a daily basis pushing for an allocation. Dealers echoing this message. Demand weak in China and parts of Asia. Strong (double the forecast) pretty much everywhere else.

2. They believe the LT is THE best car they've ever made.

3. They know that LT spider will piss off many coupe customers. They never intended to deceive but they certainly should have handled things differently.

4. They think the LT spider will attract new customers to the brand. It's got most of the attributes of the coupe, except clubsport/harnesses. Weight a touch higher. Coupe therefore remains the purist, most track biased. Spider one notch back towards road bias. Ever heard them use the phrase “a car for everyone”?

5. Points 1 and 2 will mean that LT coupe owners less likely to take a bath...plus car is off the chart awesome so many owners will be charmed enough to forgive.

6. They are ultra passionate petrolheads and they just really want to build the spider because they know it will be great for their brand from a product perspective - also to ram home their carbon tub advantage...which will be even more apparent on a stiff, light car.

What many of the 675LT coupe owners want to know is whether the Spider was on the cards from the very beginning or the business case for the open-top model was built along the way. Of course, this is a question that will remain unanswered.

Come to think of it, while this decision might affect the company on the short term, with some of the 675LT coupe owners deciding to go to other companies once they’re done with their current cars, we have to admit the move can only bring McLaren good on the long term.

P.S.: Why is the RS name tentatively applied to the 675LT Spider in many places around the web? It's too early to tell.