It’s been a long wait but after countless spy shots and teaser images, McLaren Automotive has finally taken the covers off the new design study named P1 less than two weeks before it makes its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show.
Previously referred to as the P12, the new P1 is essentially a pre-production version of the model that will succeed the famed F1. McLaren said that it would unwrap the final design next year and have it on sale within 12 months.
“The McLaren P1 will be the result of 50 years of racing and road car heritage,” says McLaren Automotive Executive Chairman Ron Dennis. “Twenty years ago we said the supercar performance bar with the McLaren F1 and our goal with the McLaren P1 is to redefine it once again.”
The British automaker won’t tell us anything about what’s hiding beneath the lightweight body panels, though it did say that the P1’s goal is to be the “best driver’s car in the world on road and track.”
McLaren Automotive Managing Director Antony Sheriff, elaborates:
“Our aim is not necessarily to be the fastest in absolute top speed but to be the quickest and most rewarding series production road car on a circuit. It is the true test of a supercar’s all round ability and a much more important technical statement. Our goal is to make the McLaren P1 the most exciting, most capable, most technologically advanced and most dynamically accomplished supercar ever made.”
While no further information will be revealed until the Paris Motor Show, we expect that unlike the BMW M V12-powered F1, the P1 will make use of a tuned version of the MP4-12C’s 3.8-liter bi-turbocharged V8, possibly linked to a Formula 1-style Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) for an output of well over 700-horsepower.
You can check out the initial press imagery after the break and then head over to the comments to share your thoughts on McLaren’s new flagship hypercar.
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