McLaren has officially unveiled pricing for the all-new 570S Coupe, the first ‘baby’ model in its line-up, which aims to make driving for the super-rich that bit more affordable.
With the Porsche 911 Turbo S and Audi R8 both in its sights, the 570S is the English supercar company’s first model in its new lower-priced Sports Series line-up.
The Sports Series now sits as the entry-level point in McLaren’s three tier model range, followed by the Super Series and finally the hyper-expensive, high-performance Ultimate Series range toppers.
Order books for the 570S are open now, with prices starting from £143,250 and deliveries due to start later this year, while an entry-level 540C will be available mid-2016, priced from £126,000.
Sporting the same sultry design language as the rest of McLaren’s contemporary line-up, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between the 570S and its 650S bigger brother. No bad thing, of course.
McLaren is boisterously calling it “the most important thing we’ve ever done”, and as a result has poured a significant amount of resources into blending performance with practicality.
Power comes courtesy of the same twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V8 as the 650S, the smaller but no less incredible 570S has had its output dialled back from 641bhp to a still hefty 562bhp.
Regardless, it can still hit 62mph from a standing start in just 3.2 seconds, which is a mere 0.2 seconds slower than the 650S, before sprinting all the way to a 204mph top speed.
All that power comes shackled to a seven-speed automatic gearbox and a lightweight carbon fibre-intensive chassis that only weighs about as much as the average Ford Fiesta.
In keeping with McLaren’s desire to make the 570S a supercar that can also be used as an everyday runaround, it’s also the most efficient McLaren model, able to return 26.6mpg with 249g/km of CO2.
Other practical highlights include a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system, a choice of leather and Alcantara upholstery and the largest boot capacity of any McLaren with 150 litres of space.