Radical McLaren Can-Am Illustration Shakes Brand Design Up

Is it us or is McLaren design has started to feel a little samey? Sure, they look good, but it’s getting hard to differentiate models.

This unofficial rendering by Yosuke Yamada, a professional designer working for a Japanese OEM, may be the solution. Taking inspiration from a number of McLarens (chiefly its Can-Am cars), this design maintains a tie to the brand without looking like a 720S. I mean 650S! Or is that Artura?

The overall wedge shape was inspired by the dominant McLaren M8D that was known as the Batmobile in its day. The wild shape finds modern uses, though, with brake lights finding a home up high on the top-end of the wedge.

Also Read: Lotus Ultimate Track Car Design Study Combines Sleek Aerodynamics With Muscular Stance

Yamada says that aerodynamics were a major inspiration for this design, though, and you can see that with some of the more recognizably modern touches. A big hole just behind the front wheels acts as a turbine, according to Yamada, that both cools and improves aero efficiency.

There are top-mounted exhausts like on a modern McLaren and there’s also a massive diffuser helping it stick to the ground. A modern-looking grille also helps keep this in the realm of current McLaren design.

A few details push it beyond that realm, though. Its paucity of windows, for instance, helps put this firmly in the realm of futuristic renderings. Micro-cameras, apparently, replace conventional mirrors.

We’ve seen Yamada’s previous work on renderings like the Lotus Ultimate Track Car Design and, again, this design combines some of the best of old, present, and new.

Note: This is a rendering by Yosuke Yamada and is not related to or endorsed by McLaren