McLaren Slashes Production Of Elva To Make It ‘More Exclusive’, But Is That Really Why?

McLaren is reducing the number of Elva speedsters to be made down to 249 examples, from the originally planned 399 units.

Officially the decision has been taken in order to boost the exclusivity of the topless hypercar, as confirmed by McLaren’s CEO Mike Flewitt during an interview with The Australian Financial Review.

“The feedback from our customers is that they think the car should be more exclusive than that, so we’ve capped it at 249,” Flewitt said.

Read More: New McLaren Elva Is A Roofless Hypercar With No Windshield And A Twin-Turbo V8

However, inside sources told Autocar that McLaren has overestimated the market demand for the Elva, forcing them to re-evaluate their production numbers. The McLaren Elva debuted back in November 2019 with a price tag of $1,69 million as the company’s lightest road car ever.

McLaren has yet to announce the final weight figure but the official performance figures put it ahead of the Senna, in terms of acceleration. 0-62 mph (100 km/h) comes in less than 3 seconds, while 0-124 mph (200 km/h) takes 6.7 seconds. The topless, windscreen-less McLaren is powered by a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 producing 804 HP (815 PS) and 590 lb-ft (800 Nm).

The niche of exotic speedsters has been experiencing a renaissance of some sort, with Ferrari offering the SP1 and SP2 Monza and Aston Martin joining the party with the Speedster. Unlike McLaren however and its apparent false calculations, Aston Martin will offer just 88 examples of the Speedster while Ferrari will build 250 units each of its SP1 and SP2 models from the get-go.

The McLaren Elva is also the first model to feature the company’s Active Air Management System, which guides air up and over the driver and passenger at speed to create a “bubble of calm”. However, customers will also get the option of a proper windshield.