The 570S - Meet McLaren's 911 Slayer

McLaren’s supercar ambitions have always been pretty high, but this unveil of the 570S at the 2015 New York Auto Show might be its boldest unsaid statement yet: it’s out for Porsche 911 blood. 

First things first, just look at it. Look being subjective and all, you can’t say with a straight face that this isn’t a pretty car. The 570S will occupy the Sports Series within McLaren’s range, its baby supercar that aims squarely at the market the Porsche 911 so successfully carved out for itself.

McLaren’s 3.8-litre twin turbo V8 makes a return here, detuned from the 650S’s output, and mated to a seven speed SSG double-clutch transmission. From the numbers – 562hp at 7,000rpm, 600Nm, 1,313kg dry weight, 0 to 100km/h in 3.2 seconds, 328km/h top speed – it could be said that it intends to steal some customers away from the 911 Turbo, Audi R8, and Mercedes AMG-GT, with all of them occupying the same rough overall size on the road being no coincidence.

Those wizards up in Woking have been hard at work perfecting that snout and rear end to reflect the brand’s symbol, and we think they’ve done a fantastic job. The interior looks especially well done, a mix of the minimal and thrown in with lashings of luxury materials while carrying over the best-in-the-business cabin airiness that it achieved the first time around with the 12C.

Good times ahead for the entry level supercar market as surely this will not only spawn a good fight, but this is just McLaren’s first step at fleshing out its newly minted Sports Series.