Has McLaren toned down their design language to appeal to more customers?
By now, you would have seen McLaren’s latest Grand Tourer, the GT. I think it’s a decent looking car, but doesn’t the design seem kind of “generic?” The design is obviously influenced by the gorgeous-but-dumbly-named Speedtail, but I’m not seeing any of the sweeping lines and curves from it.
Instead, there’s the squared off air intake from the Senna, and some design references from the gorgeous 720S, with the fastback rear canopy like the 570GT. The end result to me looks like a hodgepodge of different elements designed to appeal to multiple people. Personally, I dislike this “design-by-committee” approach.
The new GT isn’t as dramatic as the Speedtail or the 720S, and while I think the new styling works to its detriment, it’s pretty clear that this car isn’t designed to go after Porsche or Ferrari. Instead, McLaren is gunning for luxury GT brands like Bentley and Aston Martin. Logic would dictate that styling would have to be more conservative if you’re hoping to capture the luxury GT market.
Still, I’m willing to bet that the car would look much better if they used side panels and intakes from the 720S instead of the Senna.
