McLaren Developing New Carbon Monocoque and Hybrid Powertrain

McLaren has enjoyed recent years of success with an array of sports car offerings and has no plans of stopping.

In a recent interview with Automotive News Europe, McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt shared some details on what the British automaker is currently developing. Over the next six years, McLaren is investing $1.45 billion into R&D that will result in 15 new products. Along with new sports cars, the company aims to increase production so that it can see as many as 5,000 units per year, a noticeable increase compared to the 1,654 units built last year. For 2016, McLaren is currently on track to sell around 3,000 units.

Taking up the majority of the R&D budget are a new powertrain architecture and new structures. Future models will keep their current two-seat, mid-engine configuration with carbon fiber tubs and aluminum frames.

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Although Flewitt wouldn’t discuss exactly what the next-generation powertrain configuration will be, he did say that it is being designed for a hybrid application. In fact, the automaker plans to have more than half of its cars be hybrids in the latter part of the business plan to 2022. Flewitt said that the second powertrain will run in parallel to the eight-cylinder offered today and will have hybrid technology integrated from the get-go.

As a result, a new structure needs to be developed, which means McLaren is working on a new carbon fiber monocoque for its future vehicles. It won’t be radically different in concept, but new elements will be integrated to support the new powertrain, which is currently planed to roll out by the end of the decade.

[Source: Automotive News Europe]

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