McLaren To Present Next-Gen Platform And Hybrid V6 Engine In Spring 2020

McLaren will reveal its next-generation platform together with a new, lighter V6 hybrid powertrain in a few months time, the company’s CEO Mike Flewitt said during an interview with Car and Driver.

The British manufacturer aims to fully hybridize its lineup in the next three to four years, featuring an EV range of 15 to 20 miles and spearheaded by a new flagship all-wheel drive supercar. Yes, that’s right: McLaren’s upcoming top dog will feature an electrically driven front axle with a target 0-60 time of 2.3 seconds.

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Flewitt added that the first car to use the new architecture will be revealed before the end of 2020 and is set to go on sale in the U.S. in early 2021.

McLaren’s boss also claimed that the hybrid model will be just 65 pounds heavier than today’s models but, as it’s pointed out, that figure might apply only to the rear-drive models featuring the lighter V6 engine. The Woking-based company is expected to continue using a turbocharged V8 with their plug-in hybrid system in its more expensive models.

Despite the push for plug-in hybrid models, McLaren’s CEO makes it clear that we shouldn’t expect a fully electric supercar from them, at least not for the next couple of years. Flewitt said that today’s lithium-ion batteries are too heavy, too expensive and lack the desired energy density to support McLaren’s performance goals.

Flewitt is more hopeful for solid-state battery technology, which he expects to arrive in the market as early as 2023, but even then he says that an electric McLaren could still be 30 years away from becoming a reality.

At least McLaren will stay focused on supercars and not SUVs as most rival companies do these days. “Why would we?” he says. “We don’t have to.” The company’s boss said that the development of an SUV would require an investment of up to $1 billion for a new architecture. “We’d never get a return on it,” Flewitt explained.