The Legend of Artura

The hybrid McLaren Artura shows the way of the future for a new era of sleek supercars

- JARED PAUL STERN

"This is a car that very much represents a giant leap forward for McLaren.” Jamie Corstorphine, Director of Product Strategy for McLaren Automotive, is, at long last introducing the new Artura, McLaren’s first-ever series-production High-Performance Hybrid (HPH) supercar, at the model’s global launch event in Marbella, Spain. Delayed for nearly two full years by the global pandemic, the Artura is more than just a novelty, but “a whole new chapter in the story of McLaren,” Corstorphine enthuses.

The Artura, which made its official debut at this year’s Monaco Grand Prix, where H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco drove it around the track for an honorary lap—a winning experience—powered by a new hybrid twin-turbo V6 that makes a combined 671 bhp (661 hp) and 531 lb-ft of torque, capable of kicking it from 0 to 60 mph in under three seconds, with a top speed of 205 mph.

The Artura’s debut comes at an auspicious moment for the legendary marque, which is just now moving into its second decade as a luxury automotive manufacturer, having been a major player in motorsports for nearly 60 years. They call Artura “the distillation of more than half-a-century of expertise and experience in race and road-car engineering”; with an all-new, ultra-lightweight carbon architecture that, as Corstorphine says, “has been optimized for electrification, and that will underpin the range of future McLaren models.”