AI is moving fast and most people are falling behind. 

The Rundown AI keeps you ahead of the curve. 

It's a free AI newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on the latest AI news, and teaches you how to apply it in just 5 minutes a day.

Plus, complete the quiz after signing up and they’ll recommend the best AI tools, guides, and courses — tailored to your needs.

Sign up to start learning.

Happy Newsletter Friday! 🏎️💨

In the early 2010s, McLaren found itself in an unusual position. The company had already proven it could build a world-class supercar with the MP4-12C, a machine that delivered record-breaking performance and forced the automotive world to take McLaren seriously. But inside the factory in Woking, England, engineers looked at the 12C and saw something dangerous: unrealized potential. Ferrari dominated headlines as the household name of the supercar world with decades of prestige and one of the largest exotic car production operations in the industry, while Lamborghini exploded during the rise of the Instagram era with loud styling, celebrity appeal, and viral attention. So instead of waiting years for the next evolution, McLaren moved aggressively and created the 650S, a car built to prove that staying comfortable is the fastest way to fall behind.

The name “650S” was intentionally simple because McLaren wanted the numbers to speak louder than marketing ever could. The “650” referred to the car’s horsepower measured in PS (stands for Pferdestärke, which is the German term for metric horsepower. European car companies often use PS instead of the American “hp” measurement.), while the “S” stood for Sport, a reminder that this was not meant to be a comfortable grand tourer built for attention outside a nightclub. Underneath the sculpted body sat a 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V8 producing 641 horsepower, a 0 to 60 mph time of 2.8 seconds, and a top speed of 207 mph. Thanks to McLaren’s carbon-fiber MonoCell chassis, the 650S weighed roughly 2,866 pounds dry, giving it the kind of power-to-weight ratio that made even established rivals nervous. At a time when many supercars sold prestige and theater, the 650S was engineered like a company trying to take market share from giants, lighter, faster, and obsessed with outperforming brands that had spent decades on top.

When the 650S debuted in 2014 with a starting price around $265,000, it entered a supercar market that was changing fast. In 2015, supercars were moving away from analog machines built on feel toward a new era defined by turbocharging, dual-clutch speed, and software-controlled performance. Wealth was becoming younger, social media was turning exotic cars into status symbols overnight, and buyers no longer wanted machines that only looked impressive parked outside luxury hotels. They wanted speed, technology, and a car that felt connected to the future. McLaren answered that demand with a design heavily inspired by the million-dollar P1, giving the 650S a look that felt more like a hypercar than a traditional mid-level exotic. Buyers could choose between the Coupe and the open-top Spider, while later variants like the 650S Le Mans and the legendary 675LT pushed the platform even further and helped cement McLaren’s reputation as a company willing to constantly improve instead of protecting its ego.

That relentless push for improvement came with a price, and not just financially. Early McLarens developed a reputation for electronic issues, expensive maintenance, and the kind of ownership experience that could intimidate buyers used to the reliability of Porsche or even Ferrari. Supercars are engineered for extremes, and extreme machines usually demand more attention, more money, and more patience than ordinary cars ever will. Yet for many owners, that unpredictability became part of the appeal because the 650S never felt sanitized or overbuilt for the masses. Today, with used prices commonly ranging between $110,000 and $170,000, the 650S sits in a strange position in the market: affordable enough to tempt ambitious buyers, but still exotic enough to remind you that reaching another level in life usually comes with higher costs attached.

Culturally, the 650S arrived at the exact moment supercars were becoming entertainment as much as engineering. It showed up in YouTube street races, early automotive influencer content, and video games like Forza Horizon. This car cut through the noise of its era and redefined what a modern supercar looked like, shifting attention away from old-world prestige and toward a new generation of drivers who valued speed, presence, and relevance over legacy. Unlike Ferrari’s long history or Lamborghini’s dramatic style, the 650S was built for people who move fast and expect results.

Every era eventually gets replaced by the next one. The only question is whether companies like Ferrari help build it or spend their time protecting the old one. The McLaren 650S understood that before most of its competitors did. It wasn’t built to play it safe or rely on decades of legacy. It was built to move faster, think sharper, and adapt before everyone else caught on. That’s the lesson behind the 650S and the people drawn to cars like it: comfort might protect your position for a while, but growth usually belongs to the people willing to evolve first. The world changes fast. The people who move with it usually win. The question is, when your moment comes, will you evolve or get left behind? If you want to drive a car like this someday, I’m rooting for you!