McLaren does things differently. Many manufacturers bring their brands into motor racing to sell cars, but McLaren was in Formula One for many years before it thought about building production cars. A glittering history of race and championship wins goes back decades, with the cars driven by legends including James Hunt, Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton and, of course, Bruce McLaren, who founded his eponymous company in 1963.
It was not until 1992 that McLaren made its first production car. It just so happens that when they eventually got around to it, they created one of the finest road cars in history. The McLaren F1 was, and is, a technical tour de force and a gloriously packaged car. It was limited to just 106 units, so you would have to pay over $15 million for one today.
McLaren Automotive launched in 2010, setting up shop adjacent to the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey — which was designed by the architect Norman Foster — and it was here that cars would be hand-assembled in a state-of-the-art production facility.
One of the latest creations to be built here is the Artura. The moniker is formed by linking the words “art” and “future”, and the model lives up to its name, with a striking, bold design full of the technical wizardry typical of the British manufacturer.
It is McLaren’s first V6 hybrid and will herald a new generation of cars harnessing the power of a traditional internal combustion engine mated to an electric motor and battery pack. Reducing emissions, it nonetheless drives like any other McLaren, even going for up to 19 miles on silent electric power only. Prices start at £189,200 and today McLaren announced the release of the Artura Spider for release in 2024. It is the company’s most fuel-efficient car and its first hybrid convertible, meaning you can now enjoy the Artura with the benefit of open-top driving.
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Take a peek into the futuristic factory and see how these supercars are crafted.
Director: Mona Tehrani
Director of photography: Jennifer Lafer
Editor: Mohsen Rastizadeh
