As you all know, McLaren is facing a little bit of financial trouble over the ongoing health crisis. Adding insult to injury is that too many special editions have diluted the brand in the eyes of well-to-do supercar collectors.
The Elva comes to mind, an Ultimate Series model with Senna levels of performance. Originally capped at 399 units for the entire world, the open-top barchetta was throttled back to 249 examples over “customer feedback.” McLaren never explained what that means; nevertheless, the production run has been downgraded once more in September to 149 units.
Moving on to the 600LT, which is a special edition as well, the Woking-based automaker somehow made a case for an even more extreme version of the Sports Series in the guise of the 620R. Doug DeMuro says the race car-inspired model “feels relatively tame compared to the 765LT, and this car doesn’t move the game forward that much compared to the 600LT.”
Be that as it may, McLaren knows that more performance and exclusivity translates to money in the bag. Limited to 350 examples, the 620R tips the scales at 1,282 kilograms (2,826 pounds) or 31 kilograms (69 pounds) less than the 570S. Pirelli semi-slick rubber shoes come standard and the revised aerodynamics promise more downforce than the McLaren 600LT.
Even though it’s a road-legal car, the 620R goes overboard with a roof-mounted air intake that feeds the twin-turbo V8 engine. As the name implies, 620 metric horsepower translates to 612 horsepower while torque is rated at 620 Nm or 457 pound-feet. Zero to 62 miles per hour (100 kph) takes 2.9 seconds, and Doug says that “it feels just as fast as the 600LT.”
On an ending note, everyone’s favorite automotive vlogger does make a point about the British automaker’s flawed idea of exclusivity. “You just happen to have a slightly rarer version [than the 600LT], but now, every McLaren seems to be a special edition, so it doesn’t really matter all that much.”
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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