All Sections

The last ever McLaren P1 has just been built

If you were hoping to secure yourself some British hypercar action, you may need to look elsewhere. McLaren just announced the final P1 was finished today, ending production of an iconic machine.

Only 375 examples of the P1 ─ a machine that shows the Brits can mix it up with their German and Italian counterparts in the world of ludicrously expensive cars ─ were going to be built and all have now been finished.

McLaren was kind enough to release some statistics to celebrate the occasion. 13 ‘experimental prototypes’, five ‘validation prototypes’ and three ‘pre-production’ cars were built prior to the 375 production cars.

The production time for all cars was 800 hours, with 105 people involved in the process, which included applying between five and eight litres of a base coat and up to nine litres of lacquer.

Speaking of paint, Volcano Yellow was the most popular colour, while the total development mileage was 620,000km (385,250 miles) ─ that’s about 15 times around the circumference of the earth.

The Americas bought the largest portion of the 375 cars (34 per cent), followed by Asia Pacific (27 per cent), Europe (26 per cent) and the Middle East and Africa (13 per cent).

The McLaren P1 combined a 3.8-litre twin-turbo petrol engine with a 176bhp electric motor to make 903bhp at 7,300rpm and 900Nm (664lb/ft) of torque ─ 130Nm of which is available instantly, thanks to the nature of electric motors.

0-62mph takes the P1 just 2.8 seconds, while 0-124mph takes 6.8 seconds. Top speed, meanwhile, is limited to 217mph. Not a bad way to spend £866,000, huh?

Top Gear famously attempted to pit the P1 against the Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 918 Spyder (the ‘Holy Trinity‘, as the three cars are known collectively). However, it seems like Jeremy Clarkson’s Amazon Prime show will do just that.

Those looking to buy a unique and utterly insane slice of British machinery can still get the P1 GTR, which is a 986bhp version of the standard P1. Sadly it’s track-only so that rules out doughnuts in Tesco car park.

Although the news is still fresh, all eyes will now be on McLaren and just what will replace the P1 in the next few years. With these cars reaching engineering limits, how much crazier can it be?

McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt said: “The McLaren P1 has achieved more than we ever expected of it since it was first previewed little over three years ago, both as a new generation of supercar, and in enhancing the McLaren brand globally.

“As the direct ancestor to the fabled McLaren F1 – and the first in a new breed of hybrid-powered supercars – it had big shoes to fill, and it has more than succeeded. It has established itself as a true contender, proving to be more than a worthy rival on both road and track against long established rivals.

“It has done a fantastic job of becoming the halo product for the McLaren Automotive brand as we have grown the business into the three tiered, profitable outfit that we are today.”

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *