McLaren creating electric hypercar as P1 successor

Advancing battery tech clears path for Woking to develop pure-EV halo model

- MARK TISSHAW

The long-awaited successor to the McLaren P1is set to use electric power when it launches at the end of the decade.

Since the P1 was launched in 2012, the firm has frequently said through various different managements that there would need to be a step-change in technology for a successor to follow. McLaren has launched several hypercars since the P1, including the Senna, Speedtail, Elva and Solus GT, but none has been in the same lineage as the 1992 F1 and P1.

However, developments now, and ongoing over the rest of the decade, in battery-electric drivetrains make such a model more likely than it has ever been.

When asked if a model at the very top of the McLaren range was in the works to rival the likes of the all-electric Porsche Mission X, Porsche's own successor to the P1-rivalling 918 Spyder, company boss Michael Leiters said: "We're quite busy, yes."

Leiters detailed EVs as one of three pillars of powertrain development for McLaren, alongside internal combustion engines and hybrids, which will grow over the next five years to make up 90% of McLaren sales by that point.