Bruce McLaren’s unfulfilled supercar dreams have become a reality as McLaren Automotive reveals its new model.

The McL 6GT is a production-ready concept that will be the first McLaren to feature a manual gearbox since the 1992 F1 supercar, McLaren Automotive’s first foray into road cars.

As the first McLaren of its kind, the McL 6GT will celebrate ‘tactile, analogue and deeply mechanical’ driving, and connect ‘McLaren’s heritage to the present’.

Taking Bruce McLaren’s original supercar as its inspiration, the Woking-based carmaker says the McL 6GT will ‘inform a future-facing approach to McLaren cars that will captivate character’.

McLaren took the covers off the concept at Monterey Car Week, with the production version set to arrive in 2028.

We do not yet know how much the production car will cost or when it will be available but we expect to learn more next year.

McLaren has revealed its McL 6GT production-ready concept: the first McLaren to feature a manual gearbox since the 1992 F1 supercar

The beautiful supercar is a sign that McLaren means business for the future

The engine in the McL 6GT has not yet been fully detailed, but it will be a V8 internal-combustion engine, like the original M6GT.

The mechanical character will be felt in ‘every shift, throttle movement and steering input’, but McLaren promises this tactile DNA will also extend to the hydraulic steering, tactile switchgear and visible engineering.

And when you put your hand on the gearstick, you should enjoy maximum feel and throw, with it taking on a design inspired by McLaren’s heritage and using a three-dimensional Speedy Kiwi set within its upright.

McLaren is doubling down on its use of lightweight carbon fibre both on the track and on the road, and the McL 6GT is underpinned by the latest super-lightweight carbon-fibre monocoque technology, combined with carbon-fibre bodywork.

McLaren took the covers off the concept at Monterey Car Week, with the production version set to arrive in 2028 

The concept’s body features the racing-inspired styling and surfacing of 1960s sports-prototype racing cars, albeit with 21st-century execution and packaging 

The McLaren F1, conceived in 1988 and realised in 1992, was McLaren Automotive’s first foray into road cars 

Looking at the McL 6GT, the proportions will seem familiar to McLaren’s current mid-engined models, but the concept’s body features the racing-inspired styling and surfacing of 1960s sports-prototype racing cars, albeit with 21st-century execution and packaging.

Low and wide, with a low nose, the design has M6GT DNA and the stance of the M6A Can-Am racer upon which the original car was based. 

The rear features a distinctive Kammback tail that completes the uninterrupted flow from the low nose at the front.

The distinctive ‘Racing Loop’ motif, inspired by the M6GT’s original taillights, is integrated into the exterior airflow architecture, while a tone-on-tone graphic reimagines Bruce McLaren’s original M6GT number plate.

Even his signature can be found on the engine bay, while the Speedy Kiwi is discreetly etched into the fuel-filler cap.

The McL 6GT is underpinned by the latest super-lightweight carbon-fibre monocoque technology with a carbon body. We absolutely love it

The rear features a distinctive Kammback tail that completes the uninterrupted flow from the low nose at the front

The mechanical character will be felt in ‘every shift, throttle movement and steering input’, McLaren promises 

Bruce McLaren’s signature can be found on the engine bay, while the Speedy Kiwi is discreetly etched into the fuel-filler cap 

Inside, the concept’s boxed quilting is reinterpreted for a modern audience, while the new digital instrumentation retains the clarity and emotional appeal of the original.

McLaren says these elements create a cockpit that feels both forward-looking and unmistakably connected to the brand’s heritage.

Nick Collins, chief executive at McLaren Automotive, says: ‘The McLaren McL 6GT imagines what our inspirational founder wished to complete, but with six additional decades of innovation and passion woven through every element, creating a modern icon of driver connection. 

‘It is symbolic of the bold, provocative and hugely exciting future that we are preparing to realise.’