The McLaren 650S may have just finished wowing crowds at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, but there’s already another model in the works.
McLaren will reportedly launch a new supercar – dubbed P15 – in 2017. That car will take the place of the superlative P1 hybrid hypercar.
However, the P15 won’t be as exotic as the P1. It’s expected to cost around $500,000 as opposed to the $1 million-plus price tag of its predecessor, and will be built in the same numbers as other McLaren models.
Specifications haven’t been finalized, but the P15 will reportedly be a mid-engined two-seater like every other McLaren-badged road car so far. The P15 will also use some form of carbon-fiber chassis like the current MonoCell … oh, and it’ll also be a hybrid.
Car and Driver posits that McLaren could rely on Honda for an alternative to the P1’s 903-horsepower hybrid powertrain.
Honda will be McLaren’s Formula One engineer supplier beginning in 2015, and the British carmaker is no stranger to invoking its racing partners in road-car design. Just look at the BMW-engined F1, or the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren that emerged from the the two companies’ partnership in the early 2000s.
Honda has plenty of experience with hybrids (including the upcoming NSX supercar), and the F1 connection would definitely add to the P15’s appeal.
Then again, McLaren was able to figure out hybridization on its own for the P1, and there’s no guarantee that Honda will want to take its racing partnership with the company to the streets.
Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for the rumored “entry-level” McLaren P13, which is expected to cost less than the 650S and MP4-12C and will help build sales volume.
