Hybrid McLaren rumour

Luxury Automotive | Editorial

English supercar manufacturer McLaren Automotive is planning a hybrid sportscar to take on Ferrari and Lamborghini.

The company has fuelled speculation of a hybrid supercar by advertising for a Senior Engineer – Powertrain Hybrid Technology to work at it’s England manufacturing base.

This would appear to be connected with the company restructure announced in April this year as part of a plan to launch its own range of three McLaren cars, the first of which will launch in 2011. Credit Suisse have been appointed to manage capital raising for the remainder of the range but £250 million has already been allocated for the first model (codenamed P11) which has already been under development for two years.

McLaren set the new benchmark for supercars in the 1990s with the phenomenal F1, produced between 1993 and 1998 which remained the fastest car in the world until 2005 when the Bugatti Veyron was launched. They currently manufacture the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren premium sports cars but will cease production at the end of 2009. The first car is assumed to be an ‘entry supercar’ to compete with Ferrari and Lamborghini, who have already revealed plans to integrate hybrid technology into their supercars. Lamborghini boss Stephan Winkelmann said in a statement at last month’s Reuters Luxury Congress that hybrid technology was one of a number of options the company was exploring as part of a plan to reduce its vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions by 35 per cent by 2015. Ferrari are rumoured to be launching their first hybrid concept car at the Los Angeles motor show later this year which is assumed to be the launch show for the McLaren P11. Annual volumes of 1000 units are assumed, rising to 4,000 annually when the full range is in production.

The shareholding of the McLaren Group is as follows: Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) 40%; Bahraini Mumtalakat Holding Company 30%; Tag Group (Mansour Ojjeh) 15%; Ron Dennis 15%.