McLaren

The McLaren story

The McLaren name begins with Bruce McLaren’s racing team, formed in 1963. The later road-car business draws on that competition inheritance, but its production cars have their own history and requirements. The F1 and the series-production models that followed are best read as distinct chapters rather than as direct copies of a racing car.

McLaren’s modern road-car story has two useful starting points: the F1 and the later series-production business that grew around the MP4-12C. The first made its central driving position and three-seat cabin fundamental to its identity. The second established a repeatable carbon-structure approach across a widening range of sports cars and supercars. P1, Senna, Speedtail, Elva and W1 then explored more specialised briefs alongside those core models.

That progression rewards separating a model family from its limited derivatives. The 675LT and 765LT matter because of how they reinterpret their parent cars, while Speedtail’s grand-touring emphasis is a different proposition from Senna’s circuit focus. Our preference is to assess the coherence of each brief, rather than assume that the newest or rarest McLaren is automatically the most compelling.

Current lineup & programmes

Performance and specialist model families are listed below. Programme status describes the manufacturer’s published range or announcement, rather than stock or an available allocation. Open-top and special derivatives are grouped where they share a family; follow the model link for the distinctions.

Past models

Past performance-car families relevant to our 1996–2026 archive. A surviving product page or conversion catalogue does not mean the original donor car remains in production.

Concepts & prototypes

These projects are kept separate from confirmed production cars.