Whoopsy:
noone1:
 

I said models, not variants. Of course there are a bunch of variants 5 years after production started. What model from any manufacturer doesn't have coupes, cabrios, and track variants 5 years into production?

12C stopped production very soon after 650S.
650S was available while P1 was for sale.
P1 sold out a long time ago and you can't buy them anymore.
650S is still available now and 570S is as well.
Next year 650S will be replaced leaving P14 and 570S as available models.

So like I said, they've never really had more than 2 model available for sale at any given time, and they don't replace them any sooner than anyone else. Most variants come after a year or so, which is normal these days. Coupe, Spider, maybe a year in between, then track car, then track car Spider. It's the normal pattern for exotics nowadays.

No one really cares about the definition of "platform." As long as the outside, inside, performance, and price are different, that's all that matters.

 

Models, is just a fancier term for variants in McLaren speak. Something McLaren would like people to use to forget they are still basically building the same car after 5 years. 

Your last sentence is basically the factory line. McLaren WANTS people to not care about the platform their cars are build on. But many customers do care when they drop down such a big amount on a car. 

Aston Martin sort of did the same thing, their VH platform is over a decade old. But they never tried to hide that fact, in fact, they are very proud of using the same platform for so long, stressing the versatility of their excellent platform. And Aston at least change up the wheelbase of all the variants and uses different engines. It was shortened to do the Vantage and lengthened to do the Rapide. Aston actually made an effort to make different 'models' out of their common platform, McLaren didn't, and just pump out 'variants'. 

 

Since when is 5 years old for an exotic? 5 years is the norm these days.

The current McLaren platform is among the best in the world. They are giving you a more or less "hypercar" platform in every model. Are you saying you want them to make a shittier platform just so you can say you have something different on paper? The tubs are actually different (P1 is a full CF cage,) the suspensions are different on all cars, power is massively different, handling is different, overall performance is different, sound is different, one is a 900hp hybrid. What more do you want? To pay a premium just to have different part numbers on a spec sheet?

Speaking of wheelbases and engines...

458 wheelbase: 2650
488 wheelbase: 2650
LF wheelbase: 2650

488 engine: 3.9L V8 TT
Cali T engine: 3.9L V8 TT

LF engine: 6.2L V12
FF engine: 6.2L V12
F12 engine 6.2L V12
TDF engine: 6.2L V12
Lusso engine: 6.2L V12

It's not a coincidence that there are so many similar specs.

McLaren makes one type of car -- mid-engine, RWD, 2-seater, very high performance exotics. It's one brand, one image. They are trying to hit different price points, not different niches and customers.