McLaren F1 coming back

McLaren has been hinting at offering a full range of supercars for a while, but now there is some real exciting news: it’s working on a successor to the McLaren F1. When the original F1 debuted back in 1992, it was the fastest and most expensive car in the world. It’s 240 mph top speed held the production car record until the Bugatti Veyron beat it in 2005 (then the SSC Ultimate Aero beat the Veyron.)

Now a source within McLaren told Autocar, “We have just started looking at doing another F1. It is a clean sheet design.” So will the new F1 try to regain its spot at the top of the supercar mountain? All we can guess right now is that the BMW-sourced V12 in the original will be swapped out for something from McLaren’s new partner Mercedes. A likely candidate is a reworked version of the 6.3-liter V8 that’s already in service in cars like the SL63 AMG and the new E63 AMG.

Unlike the original F1, the new one will likely be more conventional. There were only 106 of the first F1s build over its seven-year life cycle, and only 64 of those were intended for road use. For McLaren to break even on this new car, it will likely have to raise the production numbers and maybe even forget about the gold engine lining.