- McLaren’s McL 6GT brings back three pedals after thirty-four long years away.
- A V8, hydraulic steering and rear-drive promise a fully tactile driving experience.
- Carbon-bodied concept previews an exclusive production supercar arriving 2028.
McLaren already delivers the best steering feel of any supercar brand, and soon it’ll deliver an authentic, satisfying gear-shift experience to go with it. Meet the McL 6GT, a carbon-bodied V8 supercar inspired by Bruce McLaren’s unfinished road-car project, headed for production in 2028 complete with a real manual transmission.
Revealed during Monterey Car Week, the McL 6GT is the first manual McLaren since the landmark F1 arrived in 1992. And this isn’t simply an old-fashioned transmission bolted into another overly familiar current McLaren shape. It previews a new, highly exclusive branch of the company’s supercar family, with driver involvement taking priority, presumably for a hefty price.
Related: McLaren Just Recreated The Lost Supercar That Came Before The Legendary F1
The recipe is bursting with appeal. There’s V8 combustion power, a proper manual transmission driving the rear wheels, not a fake manual like Ferrari’s new gated DCT, hydraulic steering, and a lightweight carbon-fiber monocoque wearing carbon bodywork. McLaren hasn’t revealed power, performance or weight figures yet, but it’s going to be quick, if not a record setter due to that transmission. More importantly, it’s going to be truly immersive.
Its inspiration is the M6GT, Bruce McLaren’s attempt to transform racing machinery into a road car during the late 1960s. That project never reached its intended conclusion, but more than half a century later – and having just rebuilt one of the handful of originals – McLaren’s effectively picking up the pencil and asking what Bruce might’ve created with modern materials and engineering.
That explains why the McL 6GT looks so unlike today’s McLarens. It’s low and wide, with a very different nose (though not that different from an Alfa 33’s…) that hugs the ground, clean surfaces and a chopped Kamm-style rear. The roof flows into the engine cover and spills around the sides like on an M6 GT, or an ATS 2500 GT or Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada, for you old-time supercar nerds.
Beyond Open-Gate
Want Easter eggs? Bruce McLaren’s signature appears in the engine bay, the original Speedy Kiwi emblem decorates the fuel filler cap, and even the gearstick gets its own three-dimensional Kiwi. It would have been obvious for McLaren to do a classic metal gearshift gate, but kind of inauthentic, since neither the M6 GT nor F1 had one. So kudos to Woking for dreaming up something of its own design that looks equally special. The cabin also gets machined aluminum controls, exposed carbon, and quilting influenced by the original M6GT.
For now, McLaren calls the McL 6GT a concept, but this isn’t some motor-show fantasy destined for storage. It talks openly about a production version being confirmed for 2028 to sit “beyond the core portfolio,” third pedal included.
