McLaren finally names its newest hybrid supercar

McLaren’s still playing coy when it comes to details about its newest hybrid supercar. The latest bit of information to trickle from the gates of Woking? The car’s name: Artura.

The moniker, of course, is less exciting than the vehicle itself. The first installment in McLaren’s High-Performance Hybrid (HPH) Series will debut with an entirely new powertrain and carbon-fiber architecture.

The 2013 P1, McLaren’s first hybrid, used a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-8 alongside a single electric motor. The most recent hybrid, the Speedtail, features that same engine massaged to 4.0 liters and fitted with a new air-intake system and revised pistons for a total of 747 hp. The Speedtail’s 230-kW electric drive unit boasts four times the power of the P1 and can generate well over 300 hp. What’s the Artura’s setup? Details remain fuzzy, but we know the HPH progenitor will use a new, gas-powered twin-turbo V-6 with compact proportions. McLaren promises “medium-range EV-only drive capability,” which we estimated back in August to be around 20 miles.

Beneath those not-exactly-groundbreaking curves, the Artura rides on the McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA), which replaces the MonoCell II. The first MonoCell debuted in the MP4-12C in 2010 and was succeeded by the MonoCell II, which undergirded the 570GT, 540C, and 600LT. The family to which these models belong—the Sports Series—concluded with the 620R. The High-Performance Hybrid Series is not intended as a direct replacement for the Sports Series; instead, the Artura will slot beneath the McLaren GT and the Monocage II-based 720S. The MCLA is designed for flexible use among every new McLaren from 2021 onward—all of which, if McLaren has its way, will be hybrids. McLaren will be have its work cut out to hit its target of a fully-hybridized lineup by 2025.

McLaren will reveal the Artura in spring 2021, with deliveries slated to begin in mid-2021.