McLaren's first manual supercar since the F1 is finally here
McLaren has built its first manual supercar since the F1 debuted in 1992.
McLaren revealed the McL 6GT at Monterey Car Week, the near-production-ready concept we caught our first glimpse of when the brand teased a manual supercar tied to its founder's own decades-old wish. It revives Bruce McLaren's unfinished M6GT road car project with a six-speed manual gearbox, the brand's first since the legendary F1 in 1992, and a production version is due in 2028.
A tribute to the car Bruce McLaren never finished
The M6GT was the only road car company founder Bruce McLaren himself worked on, an unfinished project built on the silhouette of the M6A, the Can-Am racer that first put McLaren on the global motorsport map. The new McL 6GT borrows that racer's low, wide stance and distinctive Kamm tail, translated into a modern carbon-bodied supercar. McLaren calls the result “an unmistakable signal of how the maverick spirit within McLaren can inform a future-facing approach to McLaren cars that will captivate with character.”
The manual gearbox is the real headline
Six speeds, a physical lever, and no computer doing the shifting for you, McLaren's last car with that setup was the original F1 in 1992. The McL 6GT pairs its manual gearbox with a V8 sending power to the rear wheels, and McLaren has carried the mechanical theme through the cabin: hydraulic rather than electronic steering, knurled aluminium switchgear, and physical controls designed to make every input feel deliberate.
McLaren has stayed quiet on the numbers
For a car built around driver engagement, McLaren has said remarkably little about what it actually does. The company has not confirmed power, weight or performance figures for the McL 6GT itself, though it is thought to share at least part of its underpinnings with the outgoing 750S, which weighs under 1,400kg and does 0-100km/h in 2.8 seconds. Some reports have put the McL 6GT's own output at around 750hp, but that figure has not been confirmed by McLaren, and is worth treating with caution until the brand releases real specifications.
Easter eggs everywhere, for anyone paying attention
The car is dense with references to Bruce McLaren himself. His signature appears in the engine bay, the original M6GT's licence plate has been reimagined as a subtle graphic, and the Speedy Kiwi, one of McLaren's earliest logos, is etched into both the fuel filler cap and the gear lever. Even the rear light design, which McLaren calls the “Racing Loop,” is a modern reinterpretation of the original M6GT's taillights.
Part of a bigger reinvention
The McL 6GT is the first new model line McLaren has revealed since merging with the startup Forseven in early 2025, a deal that came with a pledge to substantially expand and renew the lineup. This limited-run, collector-focused format sits apart from McLaren's extreme Ultimate Series cars like the Speedtail and W1, and the company says more details on its wider future range, thought to include sports cars, SUVs and possibly saloons, are expected in the coming months.
AutoNext Take
A manual McLaren sounds like exactly what enthusiasts have been asking for without expecting to get it. First Porsche brought the manual Carrera S back outside Europe, now McLaren is doing something rarer with its own halo history.
The bigger tell is the restraint: no power figure, no confirmed weight, no price. McLaren is selling a feeling before a spec sheet, which fits a car built around tactile driving rather than numbers.
That restraint is really about Forseven. Opening McLaren's promised reinvention with a low-volume tribute car rather than a mainstream model says the brand wants its identity rebuilt before its sales numbers.
