Leiters interview with Evo, Focus on Quality at McLaren, Positive Outlook Moving Forward

I'm kind of interested in what product differentiation means to Leiter. I do think McLaren would benefit from having a different engine for the Ultimate series cars than the Super/Sport series. Ideally I'd like the Super series to keep the V8 even if it goes plug in hybrid, but I don't know that they can amortize the V6 properly if they do that.

I also think that if McLaren wants to have a GT offering they should actually make a front engined 2 seater or 2+2. I don't think just making a restyled 570 works. That may mean another version of the carbon tub, and maybe they can leverage that for a crossover of some sort.

One technology that might help McLaren with the SUV or front-engined GT products is Gordon Murray's iStream. From what I understand you get a lot of the benefits of a full carbon fiber chassis but at significantly less cost.

ChrisK1982 said:

Think McLaren needs to keep the 4 liter V8TT for the 720s hybrid replacement if they want to be on the same lvl with Lambo (Aventador Replacement) and Ferrari (SF90) .. a 3liter V6TT won't cut it

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This gets to be interesting because Ferrari sort of shifted price points up significantly, and dropped a new product between where the Super series and Ultimate series would be. So should Mclaren aim the 720S replacement squarely at the 296 GTB (and the Huracan replacement)? Should the 720S replacement make a big jump in price to compete more directly with the 296? Should it be aiming to compete with the SF90 (which would be an even bigger price jump)?

Or, should McLaren create another model above the 720S replacement to compete with the quasi hypercars like the SF90 and Valhalla for $500-750k?

I'd prefer to keep the V8TT in the Super series to differentiate a bit more from the Artura but I wouldn't kick a sufficiently powerful and engaging V6TT out of bed. With the coming P1 successor I think creating a quasi hypercar might not make sense in the near term. And for profitability's sake, a SUV/crossover makes more sense to spend resources on.

Yeah the 720S successor will certainly have otherworldly performance if McLaren performance trends hold true. I agree that McLaren can't jump up too far in price otherwise they'll price themselves out. I think McLaren may need to stick close to where the 296 GTB's base price is. Even if the Mac comes with a lot more standard features and reasonably priced options, I don't think it would be good to have a base price much higher than the Ferrari.