McLaren has a new supercar in the works – or, at least, a new version of an existing one. It promises to tell us more on December 8, a little over two weeks from now. But the signs all point towards the arrival of the 720S Spider.

For one thing, there's the teaser image which it released with the announcement (followed closely by a teaser video) , clearly showing the nose of the 720S, with the rest of the vehicle (aft of the windshield's base) hidden from view.

Add that to the promise that the new model will "raise the roof" and the "story begins to unfold," and the message seems pretty clear.

The British racing team turned supercar manufacturer revealed the 720S coupe a year and a half ago in Geneva as the second generation of its mid-level Super Series, replacing the 650S and the closely related (MP4-)12C before it – both of which were offered in Spider form as well, with a folding hardtop roof mechanism. We'd expect the 720S Spider, if that is indeed what we're looking at, to adopt the same.

Otherwise, the Spider should closely mirror the coupe, right down to its 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, mounted amidships, sending 710 horsepower and 568 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

That's enough to send the coupe rocketing to 62 mph in a quoted 2.9 seconds, covering the quarter-mile in 10.3 secs, and topping out at 212 mph. We'd project the convertible version will take a slight hit on the performance scale due to its inevitably added weight, but don't expect it to fall too far behind.

Whatever will emerge, Woking identifies it as the second new model to stem from its Track25 business plan, following the new Speedtail hyper-tourer that caps its lineup in the Ultimate Series that's also encompassed the Senna and P1.