The McLaren 720S is dead. So what comes next?

The McLaren 720S is dead. Sort of. Of course, it’ll live long in the memory as the finest McLaren supercar to date – outside of That Other One You Know About from the Nineties – and of course, it won’t just stop appearing.

But no new 720S models from this point on will be built. McLaren confirmed to TopGear.com that "we are not taking further customer-specified build orders for 720S, but cars are available through our retailer network".

So, dead, but not quite. Find a ready-made, fresh 720S from your friendly dealer and you can indeed bag a new one, but there’s now a finite supply, and that’s a mighty shame because the 720S is one of McLaren’s finest cars.

It arrived in 2017 following a rapid testing and development programme and featured a raft of upgrades over the 650S it replaced. (Indeed, the 720S represented the first time McLaren had completely replaced one of its core cars.)

McLaren told us at the time that 91 per cent of the 720S was new versus the 650S. It features a bigger 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 punching out 710bhp and 568lb ft of torque. The Monocage II carbon tub is stiffer and more rigid than the 650’s, and of course, it looks sensational despite now being an ‘old’ car. How ridiculous that sounds, huh.

Wasn’t just the 0-62mph time that made it supernatural – 2.9s, if you’re asking – but the steering feel that makes it steer like a big Lotus, the fact that it never actually feels big, the superlative ride and stability. So good, it won TG mag’s 2017 Performance Car of the Year Award. The 720S Spider beat its rivals from Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini in our drop-top super test. And the 765LT was something else entirely.

With McLaren now phasing out this car, what’s next on the horizon? There’s been no official word on the 720S’s replacement, so the jury’s out on whether it’ll take a hybrid line like the Artura – that marries a V6 to an e-motor – or whether the ‘core content’ of the 720S will not-so-simply be upgraded.

So, the McLaren 720S is dead. Long live the McLaren… ?