Report: McLaren P1 Successor Coming in 2024

The McLaren P1 hypercar will get a successor in 2024, according to a report by Autocar, and it will be a hybrid. It will follow the Senna, Speedtail and 804-hp, open-top Elva, replacing the top vehicle in the company’s Ultimate Series of cars (McLaren has three tiers of vehicle: Sports, Super and Ultimate).

Autocar talked to CEO Mike Flewitt, who said, “We haven’t announced the powertrain. Obviously, looking forward, it will be either hybridized or an EV.” He then continued, “I like EVs. They’re responsive, refined and have incredible performance. But the charging times are really restrictive.”

Flewitt talked about the 765LT and what it would be like if it were an EV. He also noted that the numbers from the Lotus Evija and new Pininfarina Battista are incredible.

He imagines a track day, which is where my ears perked up, and said that you could be looking at 30 minutes of track time and then must plug your car in until tomorrow. And that does not seem like a fun weekend. At least, not as much fun as driving and gassing up all day.

Autocar thinks, and we agree, the next version of the P1 could be like the Acura NSX, with an engine for the rear wheels and an EV system powering the front axle. The original made 903 hp from the combined engine and electric motor, all of which went to the rear wheels. It cost $1.15 million.

“I’ve always thought that EV rollout would see different market segments responding at different speeds,” Flewitt said. “It suits small commuter cars pretty well, with other sectors, like ours, responding a little later.”

One of the keys here is the U.K. government’s proposed ban on new gas or diesel cars by 2035. Flewitt says he and others in the market will lobby to have hybrids excluded, which would keep cars like this from going extinct. And as technology advances ever further, tradeoffs on such cars get more minimal by the day.

Five or six years ago, before the Porsche 918 Spyder, Ferrari LaFerrari and original P1, a hybrid McLaren might have made us nervous. But we’re far past the point where people think hybrids can’t also be performance cars. And McLaren keeps making winners. The 720S is either THE best or second-best car I’ve ever driven, and the 765LT, according to its spec sheet, sounds even better than that. Cheers to our, and McLaren’s, hybridized future— we can’t wait to see what comes next.

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