The spiritual successor to McLaren's legendary F1 is unveiled, but its arch nemesis waits in the wings.
McLaren has revealed pictures of its new hypercar, the P1, ahead of the car’s official launch at the Paris Motor Show next week. The P1 is the new flagship of McLaren’s burgeoning range and is the spiritual successor to the iconic McLaren F1.
Opinions on styling are always subjective but it's clear that McLaren has shaken off the conservatism that drew criticism with the MP4-12C. Of particular note are the headlights that are shaped to emulate the McLaren logo, and the rear design with wraparound LED taillights. The overall profile of the car follows a similar pattern to both the F1 and MP4-12C.
So far there are no details as to the mechanical specification, but most pundits are predicting an uprated version of the twin turbo 3.8 litre V8 used in the MP4-12C with the addition of a Formula 1-derived KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System). Total power is estimated somewhere between 800 and 980bhp. McLaren have stated that the goal of this car is to be the ultimate sports car, with the emphasis on the driving experience rather than outright top speed, but it would very surprising if the car does not top 200mph.
The price is expected to be in the region of £800,000, or around four times what McLaren ask for an MP4-12C, and production will be limited to 500. This may be a slightly ambitious target since with the F1 providing a base of around 100 owners and a huge price gap between the P1 and the MP4-12C, it must be presumed that a large proportion of the potential buyers will be new to the McLaren brand.
The task of the McLaren salesmen will not be made any easier by the fact that arch-rival Ferrari are also readying their next hypercar . Spyshots of the car, dubbed the F70 on the internet but likely to be called something different when officially announced, are appearing on an almost daily basis and the finished car is likely to be revealed before the end of the year. As with McLaren's P1, the new Ferrari is likely to feature a KERS unit but this time mated to the 730bhp V12 already seen in the F12 Berlinetta. Ferrari produced 400 of its previous hypercar, the Enzo, and it's probable they will produce a similar number of the new model. Unlike McLaren, Ferrari already has a huge customer database so it's reasonable to expect that deposits have already been taken for the entire production run.
The questions on our minds are these: is there still a market for £900,000+ hypercars, and perhaps more importantly, which car will be better to drive? For now, we wait to find out.
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