Is the McLaren MP4-12C too restrained for your Lambo-nurtured design tastes? McLaren’s upcoming range topper, the P1 supercar, looks like a cyborg Gaboon viper, and it will debut at this year’s Paris auto show.
For now, this P1 is just a “design study,” with details subject to change between now and the start of sales in about a year. The roof-mounted intake inspired by the sanctified F1 and the McLaren logo–shaped headlights are likely to stay, and the mid-mounted V-8 engine is a certainty.
“WHAT,” an aghast reader asks, “is with the V-8 in a car meant to rival 12-cylinder Ferraris and Lamborghinis?” McLaren’s V-8 engine was developed entirely in-house, and uses its own block and architecture. Earlier this year, the company’s head of vehicle development Geoff Grose told us the V-8 is meant to be the centerpiece of more than just one car. Don’t worry about power; the MP4-12C’s version of this twin-turbocharged engine already makes 618 hp. (By the way, anyone remember how much power the F1 made? 618 on the nose.)
Other details we’ve gleaned from McLaren about the P1: Unlike the F1, the new P1 will seat two people, not three, and in conventional side-by-side positions. Doors will be of the crowd-stunner variety, lifting up and out like on the MP4-12C. McLaren has a carbon-fiber factory on site, so expect the lightweight material to be used everywhere on the P1, and for everything.
Thanks to: Car and Driver
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