What's the news?
This is the McLaren 720S Spider, a convertible version of the company's deeply impressive supercar. It's available to order now, for those with deep pockets.
Exterior
With the same Monocage II-S carbon-fibre structure as the 720S Coupe, McLaren says the Spider has integrated rollover protection, which means it doesn't need any additional, weighty strengthening in its bodywork. Thus, at 1,332kg, it's just 49 kilos heavier than the 720S Coupe (mainly down to motors and mechanisms), while McLaren says it is 88kg lighter than the dry weight of its nearest, unspecified rival. The carbon-fibre roof arrangement raises or lowers in just 11 seconds, and this can be completed on the move at speeds of up to 50km/h. That retractable hard-top can also feature an electrochromic glass panel, which can be switched between tinted and transparent states, while the flying buttresses are glazed to enhance all-round visibility.
To enhance the dramatic look of the Spider, it gains a new ten-spoke, lightweight forged-alloy wheel design, those rims wrapped in Pirelli P Zero tyres. There's an option to upgrade those to P Zero Corsas, for no additional cost, while both Sottozero winter tyres and Trofeo R ultra-high-performance rubber will be available from McLaren retailers. Like the Coupe, there are three specifications for the Spider and it also gains two new exterior colour choices, which are Belize Blue and Aztec Gold.
Interior
Accessing the same luxurious cabin as a 720S Coupe, the first thing Spider customers will notice are the frameless doors, which are there to accommodate the retractable hard-top system. The door hinge and gas strut positioning are different on the Spider to the Coupe, but as the 720S was always designed to be both a closed- and open-top car, McLaren built different mountings into the programme. The Spider's dual-zone climate control system has been recalibrated, as it can detect if the roof is open or not and then set itself up accordingly, while there's a rear window in the folding hard-top that can be opened and closed independently of the roof itself. McLaren says there are 58 litres of stowage space beneath the tonneau cover (that houses the roof when it's folded) that are available when the hard-top is up.
Mechanicals
The 720S Spider uses the same 4.0-litre, biturbo V8 as the Coupe, which delivers 720hp and 770Nm - giving the Spider a power-to-weight ratio of 540hp-per-tonne. Performance is therefore as electrifying as you might expect, as the Spider will rip from rest to 100km/h in just 2.9 seconds and run 0-200km/h in a simply bananas 7.9 seconds. Top speeds vary according to whether you want your hairstyle messing up or not: with the top down, the 720S Spider will top out at 325km/h, while with the roof in place that number rises to 341km/h. This is aided and abetted by an active rear spoiler, which automatically tunes the aerodynamics to suit closed- or open-roof driving.
Anything else?
The McLaren 720S Spider is the second new model to be launched under the company's €1.33 billion Automotive Track25 business plan and is available to order now, with deliveries to customers expected to commence in March 2019. The price? Well, the 720S Spider will roughly command a starting fee of around €423,000.
Mike Flewitt, the CEO of McLaren Automotive, said: "The new McLaren 720S Spider offers an unparalleled blend of extreme performance, crafted luxury, driver involvement and daily usability - all with the additional exhilaration of open-air driving whenever required. As the most accomplished convertible supercar ever, the new Spider delivers across a remarkable spectrum of abilities to outstandingly high levels, and as lightest in class with an increase of just 49kg over the 720S Coupe, moves us even further ahead of our competition in the weight race."