We know that McLaren is switching its F1 engines supplier from Mercedes to Honda next year and that it could translate into them collaborating with the Japanese firm to power its road cars too.
It’s a logical inference, but it seems to now have been disproved anyway – Drive.au asked McLaren’s global sales director, Jolyon Nash, about it and he flatly denied any such plans.
He said “there’s no intention for a partnership with Honda. It won’t happen. I mean that in the nicest way, as we are an independent company – we produce pure McLarens.”
So, the Woking-based manufacturer will continue to develop its own engines and currently has “no need” for a partnership with another automaker.
Even so, McLaren using an engine made by somebody else in one of its road cars is not unheard of; the F1, the brand’s most recognizable product to date, uses a BMW-developed V12, and it also made the McLaren-Mercedes SLR, which featured a supercharged V8 not developed in-house.
Nash was also asked about any more unusual models – he was adamant yet again: “We’re a sports car company. I don’t think we’d ever do an SUV, I just can’t conceive an SUV. I don’t imagine that McLaren would produce such a car, or a four door car or even a three door car.”
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