Introduced for the 2017 model year, this supercar marked McLaren’s second-generation Super Series flagship and followed the 650S in the brand’s road-car line-up. It was positioned as the more focused, more advanced evolution of McLaren’s core high-performance range, combining the company’s carbon-fibre construction philosophy with dramatic styling and a strong emphasis on visibility, aerodynamics and driver involvement. The design took a major step forward from earlier McLaren road cars, with the distinctive teardrop profile, slim pillars and deep front intakes becoming defining traits of the model.
The car arrived first as a coupé and later expanded into Spider form, broadening its appeal while keeping the same basic engineering approach. In McLaren’s product history, it became one of the most recognisable modern nameplates and helped establish the brand’s reputation for making road cars that were both usable and highly focused. It also served as the basis for customer-racing derivatives, reinforcing the link between McLaren’s road and racing programmes.
Production ran in a single continuous period and came to an end in early 2023, when McLaren completed the model’s production run and moved its Super Series role to the 750S. As a result, the nameplate’s lifespan is best understood as a defined generation that began in 2017 and concluded with the 2023 model year. Among modern McLaren road cars, it is widely regarded as a key turning point: a car that matured the company’s lightweight-composite supercar formula and set the template for its successor.