The successor to the McLaren P1 will appear in 2024.
A successor to McLaren's P1 hypercar will arrive in 2024, Mike Flewitt, head of McLaren's road car division, told Autocar in an interview published Monday.
The new car, which the company calls the "son of the P1," will be the next in McLaren's Ultimate lineup.
It will also be electrified, although it is not expected to compete with battery-powered cars such as the Lotus Evya or Rimac C_Two. McLaren has been testing EV technology since at least 2017 and has consistently stated that the technology will not be ready for use in supercars and hypercars until the end of the decade at the earliest.
"I like electric cars," Flewitt said in an interview. "I've been driving EVs a lot lately, and for normal use they are responsive, perfect and have incredible performance. But charging time is really limited."
Autocar, based on previous interviews with McLaren representatives, predicts that the P1 successor will follow a similar path to the Porsche 918 Spyder. The engine will likely be a turbocharged V6.
Ferrari has already gone down this path with the SF90 Stradale, while Mercedes-AMG and Koenigsegg have also released hypercars called the One and Gemera respectively. However, the Gemera is slightly different in that its internal combustion engine - a turbocharged inline three-cylinder - drives the front axle.
The P1 has a turbocharged V8 and an electric motor on the rear axle only. This combination delivers 903 hp and 663 lb-ft of torque.
The car was heralded as the successor to the legendary F1, but McLaren passed this honor on to the newer Speedtail model. Meanwhile, F1 designer Gordon Murray was working on a successor to the F1. It is called the T50 and is due to be unveiled in 2022.