McLaren Buys Porsche 911 GT3 to Benchmark New P13

It's Porsche customers McLaren are trying to poach, not Ferrari.

The British car maker wants us to stop comparing McLaren with Ferrari and Lamborghini, and start aligning it with Porsche. That's according to McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt who when speaking with PistonHeads revealed that McLaren is aiming its business at Porsche from whom it steals the most customers. "Porsche is the brand we have the most conquests from. People who know and understand Porsche can relate to what we do in terms of technology. We're less of a fashion statement than Ferrari and Lamborghini."

The company's latest project is the junior supercar that'll debut in Geneva next year. Codenamed P13, the new car is being benchmarked against the Porsche 991 GT3, which McLaren has bought. Before handing it back for a new engine, Flewitt found the car to be “one of the most impressive new cars I've driven.” The P13 will be priced at around £120,000 and use a modified version of the 650S' carbon-fiber tub and a detuned variant of the Ricardo' built 3.8-liter V8 with output set to be around the 500-hp mark. The unfortunate recall of the GT3 is good news for McLaren.

A delay in replacing the engines means that potential customers may decide to wait for the stripped-out variant of the 650S to come along. Spending a weekend test driving both the 991 GT3 and the new McLaren P13 supercar may persuade them to invest in the best of British. Now that's a comparison we are eagerly waiting to see.

Source: www.pistonheads.com