New McLaren GT ‘Superlight Grand Tourer’ REVEALED. But is it a GT?

The McLaren GT – McLaren’s ‘Superlight Grand Tourer – is revealed as, effectively, a replacement for the 570 GT and a ‘proper GT, say McLaren.

It’s a couple of months since we learnt McLaren was going to deliver a Grand Tourer, and we speculated about what that could be when McLaren announced it would be revealed in May. But speculate no more – the McLaren GT is here.

Having concluded it was highly unlikely McLaren could deliver anything other than a slightly stretched version of every other car they make is, sadly, confirmed. The McLaren GT is rally just a slightly bigger, slightly posher McLaren with a bit of extra room for luggage. It is not a Grand Tourer.

Of course, we understand why McLaren want the GT to be considered a Grand Tourer, because the GT market is a chunk bigger than the supercar market, populated by impressive cars like the Bentley Continental GT and Aston Martin DB11, and McLaren obviously think they have a plan to grab a sizeable chunk of that market.

But we can’t see them doing that with what is effectively a new version of the 570 GT, with an engine borrowed from the 720S but with low-inertia turbos and softer gear mapping, and a suspension tuned to be more comfortable around town and when attempting to crush continents.

It’s been stretched by a bit over five inches, looks more upright, has some extra (fiddly) storage at the back and a bigger front boot, and an interior which looks to be a slightly posher take on the 570S.

Maybe it’s just us, but a McLaren version of the Bentley Continental GT it ain’t.