2017 Mclaren 570 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Apple takeover of McLaren makes Project Titan sound a lot more interesting [UPDATE]

UPDATE : A McLaren spokesperson confirmed to Autoblog that these reports are untrue: "We can confirm that McLaren is not in discussion with Apple in respect of any potential investment." A spokesperson further told Business Insider that the Financial Times' report is completely untrue and that the automaker is not holding any talks with Apple in regard to a takeover or a strategic investment. Apple is considering buying McLaren Technology Group, a British automotive manufacturer, and is currently holding talks with the company, reports the Financial Times. According to three individuals that are currently in on the negotiations, the California-based technology group is thinking about a full takeover of the British automaker or a strategic investment. The anonymous sources claim that talks started several months ago. A collaboration between Apple and McLaren, from the automaker's standpoint at least, is puzzling. Apple has been working on its autonomous, electric vehicle for over two years now, while McLaren hasn't revealed any interest in creating a self-driving car. McLaren, though, isn't posting healthy profits as the Financial Times claims that the automaker reported a revenue of $344 million and pre-tax losses of $29.3 million in 2014. For Apple, a partnership with McLaren could prove to be fruitful as the company would have access to the automaker's high-tech chassis materials and engineering components, kicking the company's automotive project into overdrive. The Financial Times reports that Apple is interested in McLaren's patent portfolio, technology, and engineering prowess, which would surely help the technology company with its automotive project. Earlier this month, Apple reportedly laid off dozens of employees to "reboot" its automotive program. While there's no word on what the "reboot" included, the Financial Times' anonymous sources claim that the deal might not go ahead because of the recent shift in Apple's automotive project. According to the Financial Times' unnamed sources, McLaren Technology owns 80 percent of McLaren Automotive and is valued at between $1.29 and $1.95 billion. If the deal between McLaren and Apple were to go through, that would make it the technology company's largest acquisition since the company bought Beats Electronics for $3 billion in 2014. This isn't the first time Apple invested in a company that focuses on transportation. The technology company recently invested China's main Uber competitor – Didi Chuxing.

McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari call for unfreezing F1 engines

Formula One is a hugely expensive sport. Not only do you have enormous salaries and logistical expenses, as you would in any other sport, but each team also spends huge sums developing their own chassis from the ground up – and so too do the participating automakers in developing the engines. One of the ways the series organizers mitigate those costs is by freezing development. So once the new crop of V6 turbo hybrid powertrains were developed, that was it. But now three of the of the sport's leading teams are calling on the FIA to unfreeze engine development. Their reason? Unfair advantage. There's little question that Mercedes did the best job of developing its "power unit" to meet the new regulations that took effect at the beginning of this past season. That's how the Mercedes team won all but three of the grands prix this season and finished with at least one car on the podium at every single race. It's also a big part of how the teams that bought their engines from Mercedes this season managed to consistently outperform the other non-works-supported teams. That clear advantage is why Red Bull, Ferrari and now McLaren are calling for engine development to be unfrozen. Their argument is that, under the current locked-down status quo, their engine suppliers (Renault, Ferrari and Honda, respectively) cannot possibly catch up. So unless the FIA and Formula One Management want the next few seasons to be the kind of absolute blow-outs that this past season was, these leading teams argue, the powers that be are going to have to make some changes. For its part, Mercedes naturally counters that unfreezing engine development would send costs spiraling out of control. But then of course it stands to lose the most by re-opening engine development. If those three teams, however, closely intertwined as they are with the three other engine suppliers participating in next year's championship, manage to solicit enough support from the other customer teams and bring the matter to a vote, Mercedes may very well find itself out-numbered. News Source: ESPNImage Credit: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Motorsports Ferrari McLaren Mercedes-Benz F1 engine

First McLaren 675LT Spiders hit the road

McLaren sold out of its 500-vehicle run of the 675LT Spider just two weeks after the droptop supercar's debut. With such limited production, the convertibles aren't a common sight, but this clip lets us check out two early examples of them on the road. These two are twins in their matching light yellow paint, and they sound great when idling in unison. The first driver doesn't dip too far into the throttle on the road, but the second one revs the engine a little more, which lets us enjoy the twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8's sound. The 675LT Spider uses the long-tail body and 666-horsepower engine from the 675LT coupe but also adds a folding roof to enjoy open-air motoring. The mechanism adds 88 pounds, but the droptop can still hit 62 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds. The top speed is 203 mph, just 2 mph lower than the hardtop.