Early in March, British supercar manufacturer McLaren unveiled its latest sleek, high-tech plaything for the speed-obsessed multi-millionaire: the limited-run McLaren 765LT, where the "LT" stands for "Longtail". It takes its cues from a handful of McLaren Longtail models before it, tracing their roots back to the sublime McLaren F1 GTR Longtail.

Now, despite the ongoing global pandemic that is COVID-19, McLaren has opened up the order books for the new McLaren 765LT in North America. Just 765 examples will be built and sold in markets around the globe, and McLaren dealers on the North American continent have noted a "high level of interest" already.

At McLaren, "Longtail" is slang for "lightweight" - or it might as well be, seeing as shedding excess pounds is the 765LT's most essential virtue. The car weighs some 176 pounds less than the McLaren 720S on which it's based, thanks primarily to the extensive use of carbon fiber and deletion of some frivolous creature comforts, while under the clamshell lurks a 755-horsepower version of McLaren's twin-turbo 4.0L V8.

All that comes standard on the McLaren 765LT, as does a full-titanium exhaust, super-light forged alloy wheels with titanium lug bolts, and a four-speaker McLaren audio system. Yet McLaren promises that plenty of pre-made and bespoke options will be available through McLaren Special Operations - the British supercar-maker's bespoke division - allowing customers to configure their Longtails to their own exact specifications.

Now, for some bad news: the price. In the US market, the 2021 McLaren 765LT will cost $358,000 to start, before any options ordered through McLaren Special Operations. Not that we expected much else from the limited-run Longtail's starting MSRP.

And as a matter of fact, McLaren says that the 765LT comes standard with some $50,000-worth of comparable cost options on the standard 720S, making it sort of a bargain in relative terms. Sort of.