Gordon Murray’s Affordable Sports Car Will Have A 215 HP Ford Engine

Gordon Murray isn’t just working on a successor to the iconic McLaren F1, but he is also developing a more affordable sports car similar in philosophy to the Lotus Elise.

Murray has been working on the vehicle through his IMG car brand for quite some time and recently provided Road & Track with some additional details about the car during an interview at the Geneva Motor Show.

Murray’s entry-level sports car will use the iStream Superlight platform that combines an aluminum tube frame with recycled carbon fiber honeycomb chassis panels. This means that the sports car, currently codenamed T.43, will be very light. In fact, Murray says it will weigh less than 1873 lbs (950 kg). The T.43 is also being designed to be small and will be roughly 13 feet long and about 5.5 feet wide.

As for power, IMG will fit the sports car with a Ford-sourced turbocharged three-cylinder pumping out 215 hp. That may not sound like much but, according to Murray, the T.43’s lack of weight will give it a power-to-weight ratio to rival the outgoing Porsche 911 Carrera S.

The T.43 will act as an alternative to the Alpine A110 which, at 2314 lbs (1049 kg), is a bit heavier. Pricing for the A110 starts at £47,000 ($61,000) in the UK but Murray is targeting a base price for the T.43 of less than £40,000 ($52,000).

Unlike the company’s McLaren F1 spiritual successor, which will only come to the United States on a Show & Display exemption, Murray intends on selling the smaller sports car Stateside and says it will meet all federal safety and emissions standards.