After coming out with amazing cars such as the 12C, 650S, 675LT, P1 and pretty soon the Sports Series too, McLaren is aiming at building lighter, faster and more emission-conscientious vehicles.

During the Geneva Motor Show, McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt spoke to Car and Driver about the importance of aerodynamics, light weight as well as hybrid powertrains.

Financially speaking, McLaren is doing quite well. They’re profitable and they plan on investing all profits into the development of new models and new technologies in order to continue growing their business.

When asked about performance hybrid systems like the one in the P1, making their way onto less expensive models, Flewitt gave a definitive “Yes”.

“I’d struggle to give you a date right now, but we’ll see it coming soon. I would say that 10 years from now at least half our cars will be hybrids—I don’t see any other way of meeting the demands around emissions—and we also get some significant drivability benefits in terms of the character of the powertrain. The downside is that it adds weight and the systems are expensive, and putting weight into a sports car is the exact opposite of what we want. But you’ll see us conquer those challenges”, added the McLaren Boss.

As for aerodynamics, he said that “It’s probably going to be the biggest change. We’ve learned a huge amount and it’s one of the things we’ve been able to bring across from motorsport. The P1 has the most downforce of any road car ever. Aero is going to have to continue to develop for us to be able to carry on delivering improved performance—and driver-focused performance.”

We’ll argue that this is amazing news for both McLaren fans as well as future customers because you’re basically being reassured that the company is committed to building the ultimate performance vehicles from all technological perspectives. It doesn’t sound like they’re interested in cutting any corners as far as development is concerned.

One other thing that stood out to us is the efficient way in which they use carbon. Flewitt talked about how the 675LT weighs 100kg less than a Porsche Cayman GT4 and 150kg less than a Ferrari 458, which is extremely impressive, especially the Cayman GT4 comparison.

As for a potential P1 replacement, Flewitt said it’s about 10 years away from production and that “it won’t just be ‘P1 and a bit’—it’s going to have to be another significant technology step”.

Well, that’s just music to our ears.

Source: Caranddriver

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