McLaren reveals ‘affordable’ 570S sports car

McLaren has stepped out of hyper/supercar territory with a super sports car that has the Mercedes-AMG GT, Audi R8 and 911 Turbo in its sights.

Revealed overnight at the New York motor show, the initial model in McLaren’s newly established Sports Series range, the 570S, is both familiar and a strikingly new spin added to the Brit maker’s road car portfolio.

The Sports Series now sits as the entry point of McLaren’s three-tiered road-going hierarchy beneath the supercar-level Super Series (ala 650S and 675LT) and its mega-exclusive, top-shelf hypercar grade called Ultimate Series (as in the P1).

Exterior styling is unmistakably McLaren, particularly its now ‘classic’ glasshouse and roof profile, though the 570S introduces new stylisms such as the F1-inspired front splitter treatment, blacked out ‘door tendons’ and other Sport Series-design visual addenda.

At 4.53m long, 2095mm wide and 1202mm in height, it’s roughly the same size and dimensions as a 650S.

Power comes from the evergreen 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8, though this revised ‘M838TE’ version boasts 30 per cent new components and produces 425kW (at 7400rpm) and 600Nm (5000-6500rpm), which is right on par for the sports segment it targets. The 570S adopts a variation on the seven-speed ‘SSG’ twin-clutch transmission used elsewhere in the McLaren range, while carbon-ceramic brakes are said to be standard fitment…at least in the context of its US-marketplace debut.

Thanks to predominantly carbonfibre construction, the 570S promises class-leading lightness too, with a claim of 1313kg of dry weight, or around 1400kg kerb weight, 58 per cent of which is across the rear axle.

How does that translate to performance? Official claims are that the 570S will demolish 0-100km/h in 3.2sec, 0-200km/h in 9.5sec and top out at 328km/h – though it’s not officially marketed as a bona-fide supercar, it certainly has the stats to suggest otherwise.

No word yet as to if and when the 570S joins its stablemates on Aussie terra firma, but if it gets the green light expect pricing in the vicinity of $300-$350K mark – 911 Turbo money – while undercutting the 650S by around $100K.

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