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McLaren Sports Series 5xx to Debut in C and S Flavors at NYIAS

Well now, the Macca boys cooked quite a big surprise on us with the heavily-awaited Sports Series lineage. As it happens, the entry-level family bearing the McLaren badge will carry the suggestive “power-output-then-letter pattern.”
McLaren Sport Series 5xx 11 photos
Photo: SB-Medien
McLaren Sport Series 5xxS CoupeMcLaren Sport Series 5xxS CoupeMcLaren Sport Series 5xxS CoupeMcLaren Sport Series 5xxS CoupeMcLaren Sport Series 5xxS CoupeMcLaren Sport Series 5xxS CoupeMcLaren Sport Series 5xxS CoupeMcLaren Sport Series 5xxS CoupeMcLaren Sport Series 5xxS CoupeMcLaren Sport Series 5xxS Coupe
Just as the McLaren 650S and its 675LT sibling take their names from the PS (HP) their 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged mills churn out, the McLaren Sports Series’ nomenclature will kick off with a three-digit number. What does that all mean then?

Over 500 PS (493 HP / 367.7 kW) of grunt from a similarly-sized force-fed vee-eight motor. In any case, what McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt disclosed to Car&Driver is in accordance to previous rumors regarding the Sports Series’ projected output (“over 500 horsepower.”) What else should we expect from Macca for the New York Auto Show?

To sum things up in a jiffy, the following: seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, a carbon fiber MonoCell monocoque, tail lights similar to the thin LED strips adorning the rear of the P1 and two variants coming in the guise of the McLaren Sport Series 5xxC (probably for Asian markets) and the Sport Series 5xxS.

Though the C will be the most basic McLaren Sports Series of them all, “the C model will still be an absolutely complete car in terms of technology,” Flewitt told Car&Driver, “but the S becomes almost our ideal specification—more power, more focus, and so on.” Following these two variants, an a McLaren Sport Series 5xxLT will follow, along with “more than two body styles,” (two-door coupe and convertible).

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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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.
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