McLaren introduces US$2.1 million W1 hybrid supercar to honour F1 history
It uses electricity to achieve whopping power but keeps internal combustion, as consumers’ appetite for pure EVs still uncertain
MCLAREN Automotive has Formula 1 (F1) on the brain, and not just because the company is leading the current constructor standings.
The British brand introduced a new supercar, the W1, on Sunday (Oct 6), the 50th anniversary of its first F1 constructor’s championship with driver Emerson Fittipaldi, who also won the driver’s championship in 1974. (McLaren last won the team championship in 1998.)
The price of the car – the successor to the McLaren F1 of the 1990s and the McLaren P1 of the mid-2010s – starts at US$2.1 million.
“It’s the ultimate expression of a McLaren supercar,” Michael Leiters, the chief executive officer of McLaren Automotive, said about the rear-wheel-drive, eight-speed hybrid vehicle.
The W1 joins a spate of new cars including the Bentley Continental GT and Lamborghini Revuelto that use electricity to achieve whopping power while still retaining internal combustion, as consumers’ appetite for pure electric vehicles (EVs) remains uncertain.
The W1 gets 1,258 brake horsepower and 988 pound-feet of torque from an all-new hybrid powertrain that combines a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V-8 internal combustion engine and an electric motor. The combination makes it the most powerful McLaren to date.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Friday, 2 pm
Lifestyle
Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself.
Such mixed powertrains are well suited to the type of vehicles the company wants to produce, since they deliver power and speed along with the all-important visceral connection between driver and machine that can be lost with a pure EV, said Jamie Corstorphine, McLaren’s director of product planning. “We believe (these) are the first principles of a real supercar,” he said.
Hybrid technology is not new at McLaren: It started developing it more than 10 years ago with the 903-horsepower P1, which launched in 2013; Porsche’s 918 Spyder and Ferrari’s LaFerrari hybrids also arrived the same year.
The US$2.3 million McLaren Speedtail hybrid made its debut in 2018.
A less-expensive hybrid, the US$233,000 McLaren Artura, came out in 2021.
A hybrid SUV is in the works.
In contrast to the 671-horsepower Artura, which offers 31 km of electric-only driving, the W1 can drive on electric power alone for less than 3 km.
An onboard charger will recharge the electric motor in 22 minutes. But despite past public comments from executives hinting that the company is developing electric powertrains, a fully EV remains far off for the brand.
“We do not think that the technology will be sufficiently mature until the end of the decade to deliver a battery EV supercar,” a spokesperson said, citing weight as a core concern.
The 3,084-pound W1 is the fastest road-legal McLaren ever, with a zero-to-200 km per hour sprint time of 5.8 seconds and zero-to-299 km/h in 12.7 seconds.
That’s quicker than the Speedtail, which can go from zero to 97 km/h is 2.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 349 kmh.
Production of the W1 is limited to 399 vehicles, and all of them have already been allocated to specific customers. Deliveries are due to start in 2026. BLOOMBERG
Share with us your feedback on BT's products and services
