McLaren already pondering P1 successor

Now that McLaren is a proper automaker, it's automatic that auto journalists will inquire about future product. That's how we've come to learn that the McLaren P1 will have a successor – but not until a decade from now.

Attempting to answer the question left by the mission statement of the P1, which is that it "will maintain its status as the best super sports car the world has ever seen until a successor is built," Autocar inquired about the supercar's following act. The company's head of sales and marketing explained that not only will it be a "decade or so" before the next flagship arrives, but we can expect a "short product cycle" for the P1 because "you have to step back from the market for a few years." We take that to mean there'll be a gap when no transcendent flagship is on sale, the same way we waited nine years for the Ferrari LaFerrari to succeed the Enzo.

The McLaren F1 didn't fulfill its sales ambitions but did become a legend. The clock has just started on the McLaren P1, but with "30 or so" cars in the order books it should avoid the former fate, and before we get to thinking about a successor, perhaps we can first see how the P1 fares against the competition and its own heritage.