McLaren has removed the shape-changing, additional body panels used to hide the form of its soon-to-be-launched Grand Tourer.
The car’s design can now be discerned, although the lightweight body remains covered by a shrink-wrapped livery. The company has promised that it will begin to peel off this disguise in May 2019.
The application of the shrink-wrap will also enable the development team to enter the closing stages of the car’s extensive evaluation program, which has already encompassed thousands of miles in hot and cold climates across the globe.
The Grand Tourer has demonstrated its ability to cover long distances in supreme comfort, but always with extra shape-changing and noise-inducing panels applied.
Now that these have been removed, the development team will run further validation tests, including a 1,000-mile (1,600km) drive from McLaren’s development base near Barcelona, Spain, back to the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, UK.
To be completed in one stint with two occupants and a full complement of luggage, this is one of many long-distance drives that will help the team to confirm the new model is both comfortable and refined over the long distances a grand tourer is expected to face … one rule that McLaren won’t be breaking.
The McLaren of Grand Tourers was announced by McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt, during a press presentation at the 89th Geneva International Motor Show. Flewitt promised that the fourth car to be launched under the company’s Track25 Business Plan will combine competition levels of performance from a twin-turbo V8 engine with continent-crossing capability and a level of agility never experienced before in the luxury Grand Tourer segment. Flewitt also claimed that the McLaren of Grand Tourers will be the most usable mid-engined car yet. It won’t be part of any of the company’s existing model series, but will instead be a unique, tailored model.
