Supercar maker McLaren is planning a hybrid sportscar to take on Ferrari and Lamborghini.The maker, which built the world’s fastest production car in the 1990s, recently announced it would return to building production cars, releasing its first model in 2011.
McLaren Automotive, a spin-off of McLaren’s F1 team, has fuelled speculation of a hybrid supercar by advertising for a senior engineer specialising in hybrid technology to join its small Surrey-based team.The advertisement, posted on the company’s website, calls for an engineer to: “lead the technical assessment, integration and application of appropriate hybrid powertrain technology.”
The company has already dabbled in some forms of hybrid technology, developing a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) for its F1 cars. KERS converts kinetic energy created during deceleration into electrical energy - stored in a battery - or mechanical energy, stored in the flywheel. Both Ferrari and Lamborghini have already revealed plans to integrate hybrid technology into their supercars.
Lamborghini boss Stephan Winkelmann said in a statement last month that hybrid technology was one of a number of options the company was exploring as part of a plan to reduce its vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions by 35 per cent by 2015. Ferrari boss Amedeo Felisa recently hinted to motoring media in Europe that the Prancing Horse could display its first hybrid concept car at the Los Angeles motor show later this year.
McLaren’s hybrid is part of an ambitious plant to tackle the Italian supercar heavyweights head-on by building up to 4000 supercars a year – with three separate models - by 2015.
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The company’s first supercar has been in development for two years and was recently photographed by Drive’s spy cameras during cold-weather testing.
It is expected to compete with Ferrari’s F430 and Lamborghini’s Gallardo and McLaren is hoping to build 1000 cars in 2011 – considerably more than the 100 McLaren F1s made between 1993 and 1998.
McLaren will this year end its SLR road-car co-operation with majority shareholder and F1 engine partner Mercedes-Benz, paving the way for the new entity, led by former F1 team boss Ron Dennis.
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The original McLaren F1 was powered by a BMW V12 engine and was the world’s fastest product car between 1998 and 2005.
British website Autocar, which first spotted the ad for the hybrid engineer, quotes a McLaren spokesman as saying the company is interested in hybrid technology.
“It (hybrid technology) is something we want as a forward-thinking, technology-driven company. We have been considering it for future projects.
“All the advert means is that we are looking for a senior engineer in powertrain hybrid technology. Read into it what you will,” the spokesman told Autocar.
McLaren has released few details about its first supercar, codenamed the P11, but is expected to launch the car at the LA motor show.
McLaren Automotive, a spin-off of McLaren’s F1 team, has fuelled speculation of a hybrid supercar by advertising for a senior engineer specialising in hybrid technology to join its small Surrey-based team.The advertisement, posted on the company’s website, calls for an engineer to: “lead the technical assessment, integration and application of appropriate hybrid powertrain technology.”
The company has already dabbled in some forms of hybrid technology, developing a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) for its F1 cars. KERS converts kinetic energy created during deceleration into electrical energy - stored in a battery - or mechanical energy, stored in the flywheel. Both Ferrari and Lamborghini have already revealed plans to integrate hybrid technology into their supercars.
Lamborghini boss Stephan Winkelmann said in a statement last month that hybrid technology was one of a number of options the company was exploring as part of a plan to reduce its vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions by 35 per cent by 2015. Ferrari boss Amedeo Felisa recently hinted to motoring media in Europe that the Prancing Horse could display its first hybrid concept car at the Los Angeles motor show later this year.
McLaren’s hybrid is part of an ambitious plant to tackle the Italian supercar heavyweights head-on by building up to 4000 supercars a year – with three separate models - by 2015.
Name: McLaren hybrid supercar.jpg Views: 465 Size: 52.6 KB
The company’s first supercar has been in development for two years and was recently photographed by Drive’s spy cameras during cold-weather testing.
It is expected to compete with Ferrari’s F430 and Lamborghini’s Gallardo and McLaren is hoping to build 1000 cars in 2011 – considerably more than the 100 McLaren F1s made between 1993 and 1998.
McLaren will this year end its SLR road-car co-operation with majority shareholder and F1 engine partner Mercedes-Benz, paving the way for the new entity, led by former F1 team boss Ron Dennis.
Name: McLaren-P11 hybrid supercar.jpg Views: 554 Size: 44.6 KB
The original McLaren F1 was powered by a BMW V12 engine and was the world’s fastest product car between 1998 and 2005.
British website Autocar, which first spotted the ad for the hybrid engineer, quotes a McLaren spokesman as saying the company is interested in hybrid technology.
“It (hybrid technology) is something we want as a forward-thinking, technology-driven company. We have been considering it for future projects.
“All the advert means is that we are looking for a senior engineer in powertrain hybrid technology. Read into it what you will,” the spokesman told Autocar.
McLaren has released few details about its first supercar, codenamed the P11, but is expected to launch the car at the LA motor show.
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