With sports car sales plummeting and production halted during the coronavirus pandemic, McLaren was recently forced to make the difficult decision to lay off 1,200 staff, reducing its workforce by 25 percent. The lay-offs come at a crucial time when McLaren was planning a massive product expansion.

As part of its Track25 strategy, McLaren was planning to launch as many as 18 new models by 2025, including a successor to the McLaren P1. Spy shots have also shown McLaren has been developing a new hybrid Sports Series that will replace the McLaren 570S.

McLaren was planning to debut its new Sports Series later this year and start customer deliveries at the end of 2020. However, Evo Magazine has confirmed its debut has been delayed until 2021 after the company's restructuring.

Built on an all-new platform, the new hybrid McLaren Sports series would have been one of the automaker's most significant new models under its Track 25 strategy as it would have previewed the company's electrified future. There's also a good chance that some of the other 17 new models that were due to debut by 2025 will be delayed, so we may have to wait even longer for the McLaren P1's successor to arrive.

McLaren has already confirmed its first hybrid Sports Series will be a plug-in hybrid unlike the McLaren P1, which had a recuperative hybrid system. Power will be provided by an electrified twin-turbo V6 offering an electric range of around 20 miles, but performance specifications remain unknown. Thanks to electrical assistance, it will most likely be more powerful than the current McLaren 570S, which is powered by a 5.2-liter V10 delivering 562 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque.

As for the styling, the design previewed on camouflaged prototypes appeared to be inspired by the McLaren 720S, with similarly shaped daytime running lights and taillights and a repositioned dual exhaust system.