McLaren Artura is the First Yorkshire-Born McLaren
McLaren has revealed its new hybrid performance car, the Artura, and it’ll be the first model to use a chassis made at the new Composites Technology Centre near Sheffield.
It’s been just over two years since McLaren opened the MCTC, designed to manufacture the next-generation of the brand’s MonoCell/MonoCage composite tub. Previously manufactured in Austria, the tub now starts its journey at the facility at Catcliffe and simply heads down the M1 to the assembly line in Woking.
The new platform developed and built in Sheffield is called “McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture” (MCLA), and it’s been designed specifically to underpin what McLaren calls “high-performance hybrid” cars. While McLaren has previously manufactured limited run hybrids — the P1 and the Speedtail — the MCLA will underpin full series-production electrified cars.
Artura will use a new twin-turbocharged, three-litre V6 which develops 577hp and replaces the V8 seen in McLaren’s cars since the original MP4-12C. That will combine with a newly developed, 94hp axial electric motor, which is more compact than traditional radial motors; total power output peaks at 671hp.
Although the electrification adds some weight, the Artura’s kerbweight of 1,498kg is comparable to non-electric rivals. The car will also run up to 18.5 miles in pure EV mode from a fully charged 7.4kWh battery, and returns 50mpg on the WLTP cycle.
Prices will start at £185,500 in standard specification, with three other preset specifications called Performance, TechLux, and Vision. Of course McLaren will offer its extensive MSO personalisation schemes too. First deliveries of the Yorkshire-born McLaren will start in the third quarter of 2021.
