The Ultimate Series is the pinnacle of McLaren’s lineup and the range has included the P1, Senna, Speedtail and Evla.
While three of the cars were introduced in short succession, it will be years before the next member of the Ultimate Series is unveiled.
Speaking to Automotive News, McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt said “We’ve come to the conclusion that actually we didn’t need to launch another Ultimate Series car after [the] Elva.”
Also Read: The McLaren Elva Is A Roofless Hypercar With A Twin-Turbo V8 And No Windshield
The company originally planned to build 399 Elvas, but slashed that number to 249. It was eventually cut to “no more than 149” and some people have speculated the customers simply weren’t interested in the model which costs $1.82 million.
Flewitt brushed off the speculation by saying “We kind of launched it right in the middle of the pandemic, and we lost a lot of production capacity.” He also noted the hypercar “market was getting a little bit overpopulated” as they launched the Senna, Speedtail and Elva in short succession. By pushing the next Ultimate Series back, they’re creating some ‘breathing space’ for the model.
As a result, the next Ultimate Series won’t arrive until the middle of the decade. That’s approximately four years off, but the executive described it as a “next-generation P1.”
That isn’t much to go on, but the model will pick up where the original P1 left off. It was introduced in 2013, and featured a hybridized powertrain that consisted of a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 engine as well as an electric motor that enabled the model to travel up to 6.8 miles (11 km) on electricity alone in the NEDC cycle.
Of course, eco-friendless was an afterthought as performance was the name of the game. The P1 had that in spades as the model produced a combined output of 903 hp (674 kW / 916 PS) and 664 lb-ft (900 Nm) of torque. This enabled the car to rocket from 0-62 km (0-100 km/h) in 2.8 seconds, before hitting an electronically limited top speed of 217 mph (350 km/h).
