McLaren defends 720S styling

The most controversial part of the McLaren 720S's design is undoubtedly the over-sized "eye sockets" which house both headlights and ducts to cool the transmission.

They are large, and look a little skull like, particularly when the car is parked and neither the headlights and horizontal daylight running lights are illuminated.

Paul Howse, the company's principle designer, Sports Series, said he has been quite surprised by the polarised reaction.

"I don't think any of us in the design team were ever nervous about it. I was actually a little bit surprised by the reaction because we'd had this idea, this vision for the front of the car almost from the start, because we believed in it and worked with the aero guys to make it work," he explained.

"It never crossed my mind that it was controversial. I know some of the design reviews some of the exec team were a bit shocked by it, but that's a good thing, being shocked by design is generally a good thing."

He uses the example of the "Bangle BMW", the E60 5-Series designed by American Chris Bangle and launched in 2004.

"Everyone hated it when it came out, but it has influenced all current car design in terms of the surfacing," Howse said. "So being innovative and different does take a little time to get used to."

He said many designers who were shocked initially now think the Bangle 5-Series is one of the best designed cars of the past 15 to 20 years. Does Howse feel the same way about the eye sockets?

"I love them, I think it is a really distinctive feature."

2004 BMW 5-Series.

He said the influence came from cars from the '50s and '60s like the Tipo 33 Alfa Romeo and the Jaguar E-Type which both used round lights but had large sockets with lenses over them to look "almost animalistic".

"It was a really evocative look and we felt there was something in there that we could use.

"We also looked at what we could do, knowing this car has 700 odd horsepower and we had to cool the bloody thing. We didn't want to just pepper holes all over it, so considered how we could integrate functions."

Howse said many people think there is a lens over the 720S headlights when they see photos and miss "the 3D effect you see in real life".

As for the criticism that the big eye sockets make the car look narrow at the front, Howse said: "We did the horizontal day light running lights to make the car look wider."

Previous McLarens have incorporated bio-mimicry, under the influence of Frank Stephenson, who is the director of design at McLaren. Howse said there are elements of this in the 720S.

"There is no doubt we have learned a lot from the natural world, from aquatic life, sharks and rays, the way water flows over them."

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