McLaren applies to trademark three new car names

The McLaren Senna appears to have veered the English sports car maker into the land of proper names. The company began its road car adventure with the F1 way back when, resumed it with the MP4-12C, and carried on from there with a string of excellent models given airline ticket confirmation codes. Since the Senna, we've had the Speedtail, Sabre, GT, Elva, and Artura. There could be more on the way. CarBuzz happened on three McLaren applications filed with the UK Intellectual Property Office to reserve the names Aeron, Aonic, and Solus for "motor land vehicles or cars, parts, and accessories."

If we take the meanings of the words as suggestive of their products, we won't get far. Among other things, Aeron was a post-Roman kingdom in what is now southern Scotland, or a Welsh goddess of war, or a river, or a berry, as in the fruit. Aonic mostly shows up in sci-fi novels, as a language in Brandon Sanderson's Elantris series or a contraption in "Kemlo and the Space Invaders," but it's also the brand name of an Australian paraglider. Solus is Latin for alone or unaccompanied, often used as stage direction. Let the guessing games begin.

We'll put the usual disclaimer here, that it's impossible to know if these names will be used. And if they are used, we have no clue what they'll be used for. But McLaren must be developing more models, especially with the Sports Series put out to pasture. Those models will need to be identified somehow, and these names don't sound half bad for the task. As for new product from Woking, Automotive News says a successor for the P1 might be with us in 2024, and will "likely ... be a plug-in hybrid," the brand's chosen powertrain technology over the next decade. Otherwise, the 720S could be in for a refresh in 2023, and the GT might get a redesign come 2025.

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