McLaren has released a short clip on YouTube that marks the start of the teaser campaign for the successor to the P1 hypercar. Therein, various company employees, including McLaren Automotive CEO Michael Leiters and McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, use various descriptors to convey what they believe the pinnacle of Woking hypercars stands for. McLaren road cars with this number in their name have only been seen twice before, in the form of the inimitable McLaren F1 and the most aggressive of the so-called hypercar holy trinity, the McLaren P1. This proves that the number 1 is special to McLaren and will only ever be applied to its most exceptional creations.
What To Expect
The 1 designation is for something with “no compromise,” something that stands as a “benchmark” and that will “define a generation.” Clearly, the performance of whatever comes next will be visceral, but will it be electric? The McLaren F1 was powered by a naturally aspirated V12 and the P1 by a twin-turbocharged V8 with hybrid assistance, so is all-electric propulsion the next natural step in the evolution of the hypercar? No, because Zak Brown says that a McLaren 1 car has to be the “best-looking, best-sounding, best-performing” car of its kind.
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We can also expect it to be far more beautiful than the McLaren Senna. Although that car’s aggressive design contributed to previously unheard-of downforce levels for a road car, it’s hardly a looker, and a McLaren 1 has to provide “theater,” but also be “timeless.” McLaren design will become racier and more focused than ever, but something as special as a P1 replacement will also need to justify its price with physical beauty that makes a buyer lust after it.
Coming Soon
The teaser ends by displaying a date and time, presumably the scheduled moment for the reveal of the new hypercar: 6 October at 8 AM Eastern. McLaren has previously told us that the P1 replacement would arrive before the end of 2024, so this fits. We expect a hybridized Ricardo V8 to power the hypercar, which has been described by McLaren as “totally bonkers.” Gullwing doors will feature, too, but more than that we don’t know for certain, although we can theorize with some educated guesses about the car codenamed P18.
CarBuzz has discovered several new McLaren trademarks over the past few months, and many of them have a 1 in their names: W1, U1, MP1, and Bloodl1ne. McLaren told us at the launch of the Artura Spider that it trademarks several names just to throw us off the scent, so there’s a good chance that one of these very trademarks is about to become famous. Our vote goes to MP1 for its ties to Formula 1, but we’ll know for sure next week Sunday. Hopefully, Ferrari will launch its response soon, but Porsche will sit this hypercar war out for a few years.