Autocar June 15, 2022

THERE IS A huge amount to admire about McLaren Automotive. Just 11 years after it delivered its first MP4-12C, it has established itself as a world-class maker of supercars. Perhaps the biggest compliment is just how much Ferrari has had to raise its game to deal with the challenge. Yet if there has been a criticism of McLaren, it’s the familiar feeling of most of its models. Same engine, same chassis, similar styling… After a decade, it’s time to change the record. With the Artura (p24), McLaren has done just that. It switches to a V6 from a V8 and marries it to hybrid power in a regular production McLaren for the first time. A new chassis and underpinnings improve not only the way it drives but also its usability. The styling?…

THERE IS A huge amount to admire about McLaren Automotive. Just 11 years after it delivered its first MP4-12C, it has established itself as a world-class maker of supercars. Perhaps the biggest compliment is just how much Ferrari has had to raise its game to deal with the challenge. Yet if there has been a criticism of McLaren, it’s the familiar feeling of most of its models. Same engine, same chassis, similar styling… After a decade, it’s time to change the record. With the Artura (p24), McLaren has done just that. It switches to a V6 from a V8 and marries it to hybrid power in a regular production McLaren for the first time. A new chassis and underpinnings improve not only the way it drives but also its usability.…

“McLaren’s determined to stay true to its traditions of compactness, light weight and sophisticated aero” McLaren is working on a brand-new high-performance crossover – a project that directly contradicts its previously declared intention of only ever building supercars and hypercars. The new crossover, on course to hit the market in the second half of this decade, will be a fully battery-electric proposition, not a hybrid, and will never be available with a combustion engine. McLaren is understood to be eyeing a single model to begin with, but past practice suggests different specifications and power levels will be offered in time, similar to Aston Martin with the DBX. The new McLarens are believed to be relatively low, compact, dual-or tri-motor, four-wheel-drive designs offering exalted performance levels likely to match Aston Martin’s recently launched V8 DBX…

So that’s it, then: the last bastion of sports cars has finally fallen. The numbers are hard to ignore, as we’ve reported many times. But I feel that with this news, there’s hope we’re not all going to hell in an SUV-size handcart – because of all the sports car companies, McLaren could be the best placed to maintain the strongest link between what made it famous and what will now allow it to survive. I say this from a position of experience, having spent 24 hours in (and slept in) a McLaren GT recently (Autocar, 2 March). Lifestyle ambition met the cold truth of sports car seats, and my back hasn’t been the same since. But the experience was interesting in what it tells us about McLaren’s attitude. This isn’t a…

“McLaren’s determined to stay true to its traditions of compactness, light weight and sophisticated aero” McLaren is working on a brand-new high-performance crossover – a project that directly contradicts its previously declared intention of only ever building supercars and hypercars. The new crossover, on course to hit the market in the second half of this decade, will be a fully battery-electric proposition, not a hybrid, and will never be available with a combustion engine. McLaren is understood to be eyeing a single model to begin with, but past practice suggests different specifications and power levels will be offered in time, similar to Aston Martin with the DBX. The new McLarens are believed to be relatively low, compact, dual-or tri-motor, four-wheel-drive designs offering exalted performance levels likely to match Aston Martin’s…

HAVING DECIDED TO get into crossovers, McLaren now has a series of obstacles to overcome. Probably in order of urgency, they go something like this. WHICH PARTNER? McLaren’s financial difficulties have been exposed several times in the past few years, and it will need a major partner to put its SUV plans in motion. This big group will probably need to be willing to contribute a platform (as well as battery and powertrain elements), in the way the Volkswagen Group does to Lamborghini. McLaren has already held talks at group level with VW (ostensibly centred on its Formula 1 activities) and with BMW, and secret discussions with other prospective partners are believed to be under way. One useful contact might be Mercedes-Benz. The new McLaren Artura is understood to use hybrid powertrain components designed and…