McLaren’s hardcore high-performance hybrid coming in 2021

McLaren will turn to electrification to extract even more potent acceleration from its vehicles, with the British supercar maker teasing its first production high-performance hybrid (HPH) which will launch globally in the first half of 2021.

The as-yet unnamed hybrid model (HPH is merely a holding title) will pair a punchy and all-new V6 petrol engine with a battery and electric motor, aiding not just with performance, but also unlocking a pure-electric mode that will see the then-silent supercar able to drive on battery power alone.

Specifications are still to be confirmed – such as the battery and motor specifics, as well as just how much electric driving will be on offer – but the brand says the electrified powertrain will deliver “astonishing” performance, as well as “medium-range EV-only drive capability”.

“This all-new McLaren supercar is the distillation of everything we have done to date; all that we have learned and achieved,” says McLaren CEO, Mike Flewitt.

“This is a new kind of McLaren for a new era, an extraordinary drivers’ car that offers blistering performance as well as an all-electric range capable of covering most urban journeys.

“We see this new McLaren as a true ‘next generation’ supercar and cannot wait to show it to customers.”

Also new is the HPH’s carbon-fibre chassis, known as the McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture, which will underpin this and future electrified models, several of which are set to launch in the “coming years”. The lightweight chassis was deigned and developed in McLaren’s technology centre in Sheffield, England, specifically to further the brand’s electric ambitions.

“For us, light-weighting and high-performance hybrid technology go hand-in-hand to achieve better performance as well as more efficient vehicles,” says Flewitt.

“Our expertise in lightweight composites and carbon fibre manufacturing, combined with our experience in cutting-edge battery technologies and high-performance hybrid propulsion systems, makes us ideally placed to deliver uncompromised levels of electrified high-performance driving that until now have simply been unattainable.”

The bad news? All this performance won’t come cheap. While the full details are yet to be revealed, we do know the HPH will sit between the GT and 720S in the McLaren lineup, which means, in Australia, a price point of between $400k and $500k.