The department for bespoke customer commissions at McLaren - or MSO (McLaren Special Operations) - has confirmed details of the world’s first ‘Hyper-GT’ .
Designed to be the most ‘exquisitely crafted’ and luxurious road-going McLaren to date the new sports car will be a three-seater. The development car is codenamed BP23 standing for Bespoke Project 2, with McLaren also confirming that the limited production run will be capped at 106 units, exactly the same as the number of McLaren F1s produced, all of which have already been pre-sold.
On the announcement of the project, McLaren Automotive’s Chief Executive Officer, Mike Flewitt, said: “BP23 will borrow the three seat layout with the central driving position made famous by the iconic McLaren F1, and it will be housed in a streamlined, shrink-wrapped carbon fibre body of great elegance. We are calling BP23 a ‘Hyper-GT’ because it’s a car designed for longer journeys, but with the high levels of performance and driver engagement expected of any McLaren. A hybrid powertrain will make it one of the most powerful McLarens yet created but the car will also deliver the highest levels of refinement, enabling significant journeys to be undertaken with up to three people aboard.”
Design work has begun, with an ambition to deliver the first examples in early 2019. Future owners will work alongside MSO to create their own bespoke cars, being able to select colour, trim and other points of personalisation unique to them. Such is the nature of the project, all of the switchgear will be bespoke and ‘exquisitely’ crafted for the car. Like the F1 and all of McLaren Automotive’s road and track cars, the car will feature dihedral doors, but for the BP23, the doors will be powered for the first time with apertures extending into the roof.
Further details of the car’s specification will be communicated nearer the launch date.