McLaren’s New Supercar Suffers From ‘Deja Vroom’

In 2012, HP released the LaserJet Pro 400 M401, a monochrome office printer available as the M401a, the M401d, the M401dn, or the M401dw, depending on whether you wanted automatic duplex, networking, or wireless. HP followed it with the M402 and M403, then the M404 and M405, and then the LaserJet Pro 4001, 4002, 4003, and 4004 lines. If you also needed to scan and fax, HP offered the M425, M426, M427, M428, and M429.McLaren — the British racing brand that made the legendary F1 hypercar in 1992 — has seemingly taken inspiration from HP. It released the MP4-12C in 2011, which it soon shortened to the 12C, and followed with the 650S, the 675LT, the 720S, the 765LT, the 750S, and new 788HS, unveiled at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. These are all fundamentally evolutions of the same car: mid-engine two-seat supercars built on similar carbon tubs and running versions of basically the same twin-turbo V8, with power bumps along the way. McLaren has also made Sports Series models including the 540C, the 570S, the 600LT, the 620R, and the Artura, plus the GT grand tourer and special models such as the Senna, the Elva, and the Sabre, all of which largely recycle the same engine, tub, and general technology.McLaren 788HS. Courtesy of McLarenMcLaren 788HS. Courtesy of McLarenThis doesn’t make the 788HS a bad car. Few McLarens are. The 200-car run, split evenly between coupes and Spiders, juices that well-worn formula with 777 horsepower and more aggressive aerodynamics. Its S-duct hood, taller active rear wing, F1-derived diffuser, and carbon front splitter give it ten percent more downforce than the 765LT, and also brings center-lock wheels to this platform for the first time. All that aero makes it 80 pounds heavier than the 765LT, but still. It’s the first new McLaren announced in almost two years and only the third ever to carry the “High Sport” badge, after the five-unit 2012 MP4-12C HS and the 25-unit 2016 688HS.McLaren 788HS. Courtesy of McLarenMcLaren 788HS. Courtesy of McLarenAnd yet, because McLaren has made so many variations of this formula, it’s probably the most boring car ever released with specs like this. The MP4-12C was exciting, despite initial problems — particularly with reliability — because it gave the Ferrari 458 Italia a British rival. But as McLaren watered it down, making iterations of the same formula to fit so many price and power brackets, the excitement died; then crypto millionaires started buying the cars in droves, further harming the brand’s reputation.Thankfully, McLaren says this is the last car it will release with this template. Unfortunately, its replacement may be worse.McLaren’s iterative lineup came from financial difficulty rather than sheer uninventiveness. It managed to scrape together the money to develop its new W1 hypercar, which is technically impressive and genuinely new, if slightly uninspired. But the brand lost more than $1 billion in 2023, had to sell its famous headquarters in 2021, and still needed repeated bailouts from its Bahraini owner to stay solvent.That ownership era is over. In 2025, CYVN Holdings, an Abu Dhabi investment vehicle with a stake in NIO, completed its acquisition of McLaren Automotive and merged it with Forseven, a British luxury electric-vehicle startup that nobody has heard of. The new McLaren Group Holdings cleared about $800 million of debt, pledged more than $2 billion in fresh investment, and installed Nick Collins as chief executive to expand beyond two-seat mid-engine supercars.That could mean new supercar platforms and distinct, compelling models, along with — presumably — a luxurious electric SUV aimed at the Chinese market. If the new owners have any sense, they will strip the hybrid system from the W1, add a manual transmission, and sell it as a new analog limited-edition hypercar.McLaren W1. Courtesy of McLarenBut we’ve seen this story before. Lotus was bailed out by new owners interested in electric cars, who helped it develop the Emira, a great little sports car. But the Emira was delayed; Lotus then raised its price to compensate for underwhelming sales and downgraded it further to save money. The rest of the brand’s lineup consists of various Chinese-built electric blobs.The 788HS is the end of a tired, worn-out McLaren that enthusiasts stopped caring about years ago. Yet that may be better than what comes next.

McLaren’s New Supercar Suffers From ‘Deja Vroom’

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