McLaren taking on Porsche

McLaren has launched a less-expensive sports car to take on Porsche and Audi. The 570S is powered by the same twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V8 that’s in the 650s and P1. It’s matched to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, and the rear-wheel-drive car makes the 0-100kph sprint in 3.2 seconds and has a top speed of 329kph. With a lightweight carbon-fibre chassis, the 570S weighs in at 1,313kg and McLaren says it will be almost 150kg lighter than its closest rivals. The marque hopes it will compete with sports cars, such as the Porsche 911 Turbo and Audi R8. The 570S comes in at around US$185,000 in North America where it undercuts the Porsche 911 Turbo, which costs US$182,700. It will be followed by a cheaper, less-powerful 540C Coupe, which will make its debut at Shanghai Motor Show in late April. McLaren delivered 1,600 vehicles in 2014 and is aiming to reach 4,000 global sales by 2018. Growth has come off the back of an expansion of its dealer network, which now amounts to 70 spread across 32 markets.