The McLaren W1 is the Mclaren that answered a simple question — how much car can this badge carry? — with 1275 PS @ 9,000 rpm from 3988 cc McLaren MHP-8 twin-turbo V8. It was built from 2026, in the decade the industry is turning electric. Tobias Sühlmann (Chief Design Officer) / João Dias (Principal Exterior Designer) / Patrick Carton (Exterior Designer) drew it. The total made was 399.
How it came about
The McLaren W1 is a limited-production hybrid sports car developed by McLaren Automotive. It is the successor to the McLaren P1. It was unveiled on October 6, 2024. Production was scheduled to commence in 2025, and was limited to 399 units.
The hardware
Power comes from 3988 cc McLaren MHP-8 twin-turbo V8; 1275 PS @ 9,000 rpm is the published figure. It weighs 1399 kg. Work it out per tonne and you get about 911 horsepower — hypercar territory, where the limiting factor is the tyre, not the engine. It shifts through a In-house robotic 8-speed dual-clutch / + electric reverse. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2680 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the McLaren P1; assembly was at Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Ferrari Luce, the Delage D12, the Lamborghini Temerario — show what else the money bought that year. Its Mclaren stablemates include the McLaren M15 and the McLaren M16.