2018 Mclaren 570 Spider on 2040-cars

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How McLaren is rewriting the electric supercar formula

HEADLEY DOWN, England — There's nothing quite like the roar of a revving McLaren engine to set a petrolhead's pulse pounding, or the full-throated scream as it tears across the tarmac. Yet new gas-fueled engines like McLaren's could be illegal in many countries by 2030. The supercar maker, like all automakers, has to go electric — but that's easier said than done for a niche player that can't compromise the performance, and racing experience, that supports its rarefied pricing and exclusivity. McLaren could probably produce a fully-electric vehicle tomorrow, said Ruth Nic Aoidh, the British carmaker's executive director for purchasing. But the weight of today's batteries "would kill all of the attributes that make a McLaren a McLaren". So instead, Nic Aoidh says McLaren is taking more time to rethink the way it builds vehicles from the wheels up. It is also looking to overhaul its business model, to generate revenue from selling some of its new technology to other automakers. The people it ultimately has to keep happy are affluent enthusiasts like Steve Glynn, who make up McLaren's base. A racing driver, Glynn teaches others how to drive their supercars around private tracks, where the combination of raw speed and precise handling separate McLarens and Ferraris from cars that cost a tenth as much. Glynn just bought his fourth McLaren, a black 620R, in January. He declined to say what he paid for it, but the 620R starts at around 250,000 pounds ($346,000). "I'm a petrolhead through and through, but I think we have to accept the future of electrification beckons everyone," he said at his home in Headley Down, a village in southern England less than hour's drive from McLaren's Woking headquarters. "But an electrified McLaren would still have to put that same smile on your face." Even for deep-pocketed behemoths like Volkswagen AG, developing electric vehicles is an expensive proposition that is taxing their capital resources. Other smaller premium carmakers like Volkswagen unit Bentley or Tata Motors Ltd's Jaguar Land Rover, which both plan to electrify their model lineups by 2030, can rely on their owners' financial backing to make the switch. But for niche manufacturers like McLaren, lack of scale is a major challenge. Last year McLaren said it would cut 1,200 jobs - more than a quarter of its workforce - as it dealt with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. McLaren's cars start at around 120,000 pounds and range up to 750,000 pounds.

McLaren Speedtail prototype says you can call it Al(bert)

Automakers so frequently refer to their cars, both in production and in development, by boring old alphanumeric codes. McLaren in particular does this, with such unmemorable names as MP4-12C and 650S. Its new Speedtail, still in development, does have a boring code name of MVY02, but it also has a real name. It's called Albert. According to McLaren, the reason for this is that the test prototypes for the old McLaren F1 supercar were also called Albert. The location where the F1 was designed was on Albert Drive, too. So this is a nice throwback to the last top speed demon from the British car firm. And of course, it's a fun name for a car. Aside from the name, the prototype is distinguished by a nifty vinyl wrap, as well as a unique nose. Instead of the super slick fascia of the Speedtail production car, the nose of the 720S has been grafted on. According to McLaren, underneath those panels are the actual Speedtail components. It actually doesn't look as out of place as we would have imagined. The car is being used to test the production hybrid engine in real-world driving, as well as finalizing suspension brakes, ergonomics and more. Testing will continue over the coming year until production begins at the end of 2019. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

McLaren 600LT Spider First Drive Review | A Longtail benchmark

PHOENIX — Expectations were high as I strapped myself into the driver's seat of the 2020 McLaren 600LT Spider. The spec sheet looked promising: a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 producing 592 horsepower and 457 pound-feet of torque, a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and a lightweight carbon fiber monocoque chassis. Plus, the 600LT's sinewy composite bodywork looks equally great in the real world. But it wasn't until I was connecting apexes and hitting curbs through the kinks that make up turns 14 and 15 at Arizona Motorsports Park just outside of Phoenix that the 600LT Spider seriously started to stand out even when judged against the other supercars in McLaren's current lineup. To borrow a well-worn phrase, the McLaren 600LT Spider is more than the sum of its parts. It was designed in such a way that all of its bits and pieces harmoniously work together to create what may be the single best buy in the entire supercar realm. McLaren divides its street cars into three categories: Sport Series, Super Series, and Ultimate Series. The LT designation, which stands for Longtail and memorializes the collectible F1 Longtail of the 1990s, is affixed to higher-end, track-focused machinery. The 600LT sits at the very top of the brand's entry level series, and while that seemingly means it's merely the biggest and baddest of the lowest tier, that isn't a fair assessment. I suggest you read through our First Drive report of the hardtop 600LT to understand why we at Autoblog concluded at the time that "it's quite simply the most entertaining model McLaren has yet built." Now that we've driven the 600LT Spider, however, we might have to adjust our rankings. Unlike some supercar makers, McLaren prides itself on building vehicles that aren't just fast around a racetrack but are somehow also easy to live with and drive out in the real world. That dual-role nature lends itself extremely well to top-down motoring. And McLaren has nailed the folding hardtop design with the 600LT Spider. With the top up, the McLaren 600LT Spider feels just like the coupe. The electrically powered roof is composed of three pieces that can raise or lower in less than 20 seconds and can be activated at up to 25 mph. At speed, the hardtop does a good job of keeping the cabin relatively quiet, and conversations can easily be had on the highway. Top down, there's less wind buffeting and a greater feeling of spaciousness than in the Lamborghini Huracan Spyder.