McLaren will reveal the next model in its Ultimate Series of hypercars on 6 October, just over a decade after the P1 arrived as the successor to the iconic F1. A video published by the company features those two hallowed hypercars and reveals that “the next benchmark” is inbound.
The new car is anticipated to take advantage of the developments made with electrification since the P1 was launched 12 years ago. McLaren has said on numerous occasions that there would need to be a generational change in technologies to justify a new ‘1’ car.
With a pure-electric McLaren supercar understood to still be some years off, this next ‘1’ hypercar is set to stick with a high-output hybrid powertrain that will no doubt comfortably outpace the 916hp P1. It will likely use an all-new V8 engine that will be completely unrelated to the one that’s offered in McLaren’s existing range of cars, along with a next-gen hybrid system. Power figure can be expected to go past the 1000hp mark.
The name of the car remains a mystery though. It’s currently codenamed P18, but that isn’t expected to be retained for the production model. However, like the P1 and F1 before it, the new hypercar will likely retain the ‘1’ in its name.
Meanwhile, McLaren chief Michael Leiters last year told our sister publication Autocar UK that the company was “not sure” on electric supercars yet because of their weight at present. “We don’t want to make a car that is 2000kg and 2000hp – anybody can do that,” said Leiters. “We want to make a car that is comparable to the 750 weight-wise.” Such a car will be possible “maybe at the end of the decade”, he added.