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2021 McLaren Artura revealed | evo UNWRAPPED
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May 9, 2025
This is the all-new McLaren Artura. Don't be put-off by its familiar design, as this true next generation McLaren has a new carbonfibre tub, interior, body, and twin-turbo V6 engine with hybrid assistance. To help break down why the new Artura is such a big deal for McLaren, evo Deputy Editor Adam Towler walks us through all the specs, in high-definition detail. For the full story, visit: www.evo.co.uk/mclaren/202199/new-mclaren-artura-revealed-all-new-hybrid-supercar-to-rival-911-turbo-s Follow us: https://twitter.com/evomagazine https://facebook.com/evomagazine https://instagram.com/officialevomagazine https://www.tiktok.com/@evomagazine? Subscribe to the evo channel: http://bit.ly/1MAnWVi Subscribe to evo magazine: http://subscribe.evo.co.uk/
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0:00
A new McLaren. Now that's a phrase we've heard quite a lot in recent years but this, the Artura
0:08
well it really is a new McLaren. It's got a name not a number for a start. It's got a new chassis
0:14
and tub construction and it's also got a new beating heart. Let's find out a little bit more
0:19
about it. What's in a name then? Well Artura. It's an amalgamation of sorts between art and future
0:34
Art being what McLaren would like us to think of their new styling and future chiefly being what's
0:41
underneath there because this is a McLaren with an all-new powertrain. The big news is this is the
0:47
first new McLaren without that venerable twin-turbo V8 that's been a thread really throughout
0:53
all of McLaren's cars, perhaps arguably almost to a fault. No, this is a hybrid, inevitably perhaps
1:01
as we march towards a fully electric future. This car has a twin-turbo V6, again developed for
1:08
McLaren by Ricciardo. It is a 120-degree V6, quite unusual there, with twin-scroll turbochargers
1:17
mounted within the V. Clearly it's going to get very hot within the cylinder banks and hence
1:22
this rather novel chimney here which lets the hot air extract out and in combination with the
1:28
e-motor it produces a peak power of 671 brake horsepower and 531 pounds foot of torque. The
1:38
engine itself only weighs 160 kilos. The electric motor can contribute up to 95 horsepower and 225
1:46
of torque. Now just one thing to be clear on is that peak torque figure is what you get from zero
1:55
but it's not what the electric motor is producing when the internal combustion engine is producing
2:00
its peak torque so you can't just add the two numbers together. The electric motor is connected to the engine via a clutch and it's mounted within the drivetrain
2:11
so it's not on the rear axle. After that you have a new eight-speed twin-clutch gearbox
2:18
There's no reverse gear because McLaren just used the electric motor to make the car go backwards
2:24
And then there's an all-new electronically controlled rear differential as well which is
2:28
another first on McLaren. The weight of that V6 is 160 kilos which actually is considerably
2:36
lighter than the old V8. But to give you some idea of the challenges that McLaren have inevitably
2:42
faced, the electric motor, the gearbox, the diff and the clutch, that's another 172 kilos. So you
2:49
can see how important it has been for McLaren to save kilos throughout the car to try and offset that weight penalty of having a hybrid drivetrain The design of the Artura sits very much within
3:02
the McLaren family look. You'll recognise it instantly I think as a McLaren. Now it's not up
3:08
to me to tell you whether it looks good or not, you'll decide with your own eyes but the thing
3:13
that struck me more than anything else was the surfacing and the quality of the surfacing
3:18
Now one reason that partially explains that is McLaren's use of superforming the aluminium panels
3:25
It's particularly noticeable on this giant rear clamshell. It's now all one piece effectively
3:31
from down the side of the car all the way across the top and to the other side and the subtlety of
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the surfaces and the contours is something that you have to see it to really appreciate it. It's
3:45
sort of surface that you want to run your hand over to feel the different contours. There's some
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very sharp creases as well around here. These huge intakes around the side as well are very eye-catching
3:58
Incorporating all the hybrid components, crucially putting them in the right places
4:03
meant that McLaren had no choice but to replace its monocell tub construction. So this car uses
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what's called MCLA architecture, a new carbon tub built for the first time in McLaren's centre up in
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Sheffield and what that has allowed is for them to position key things like the battery and the
4:23
electric motor exactly where they're required. Now the chassis itself or the carbon tub structure
4:31
is on the quoted weight slightly heavier than the old monocel but that's because this time
4:37
It includes various things like door hinge fixings and where the battery goes, the tray and so forth there
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So if you were to compare light for light, we're told that actually the bare tub itself is lighter
4:51
The battery is housed right down here behind the front seats. Now, that is for two reasons
5:00
Firstly, low centre of gravity, but also it's surrounded by some very strong carbon fibre
5:06
so in the advent of a crash it's in pretty much the safest place it could be
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Another key point on the Artura is that it breaks that McLaren tradition of using double wishbones all round
5:18
On this car the lower link at the rear is now a multi-link arrangement
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McLaren have chased more stability under braking and different tuning opportunities. Overall, this car weighs 1,498 kilos to the DIN standard
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That's 46 kilos more than a 570S, and I can almost hear the sigh from here
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Yes, it's a pity. It's heavier. It pretty much on one and a half tons now Given the extra technology contained within this car you have to see that as something of a result and of course the hybrid part of the overall package
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does bring with it lots of benefits as well not least we suspect an explosive torque delivery
6:04
once you're inside the Artura it's instantly familiar but deceptively different as well
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first of all and this is something that we've applied to McLarens for so long now but the
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driving position is absolutely fantastic I mean that for me is perfection the view out
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the angle that I'm sitting at the relationship between me and the wheel I mean you just
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just couldn't ask for anything more from a driver's car. And all of this looks very familiar, except clearly this binnacle is nearer the wheel and mounted higher
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It's actually mounted on the column now and moves with the column. You've got these switches up here for changing things like the driver's modes, which we'll come on to in a little bit
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The idea is it's this hands-on throttle and stick from the world of fighter jets
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And in effect, it means you can keep your hands pretty much on the wheel or very close to it
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when you want to change some functions. These seats, these are the club sports seats
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The support feels fantastic already from these and they feel so comfortable
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I get an impression looking around that the perceived quality has gone up a notch
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It's a hard thing to talk about, isn't it? And only people that live with cars for months and years
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and many thousands of miles really know the answer to these sort of questions
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But the impression is of more sophistication somehow. the stitching, little bits of detailed design, the way different materials interface with each other
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It's just the impression I'm getting. It just seems a bit more of a sophisticated design
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and hopefully a better standard of build quality as well. This is a new screen, this 8-inch touchscreen
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There's Apple CarPlay and Android now as well. These paddles, again, no one does paddles like McLaren do
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Other manufacturers should just look at this and learn. These are even better than I remember from other McLarens
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Just the action of them is really tactile and makes changing gear, obviously much more an event
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Of course, you haven't got three pedals and a stick, but at least if you've got pedals that offer some kind of feedback
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you do claw back some of that driver interaction, basically. Predictably, a car of this complexity, the driving experience is dominated by driver modes
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they tie in all the different systems. The Artura has four, E-Mode, Comfort, Sport and
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Track and it a lot more than just damper settings and engine power The car will boot up in E unless you tell it to do otherwise when you turn the ignition on which means switch car on drive away in silence
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In that mode, the internal combustion engine won't cut in, even if you stamp on the throttle
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It's a 7.4 kilowatt hour battery. Interestingly, it takes two and a half hours to charge from a normal wall socket, so you don't need any special charger
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but then this isn't meant to be a hybrid in the sense of an eco car clearly the range is about 19
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miles on wltp in the real world whether you get that who knows but at least there's something there
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to play with the driver modes affect the strategy of how all the systems work together if you move
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to comfort obviously you get the most comfort spec damping from the adaptive dampers but also
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the car is very much still in an eco-focus mode where it looks after the battery and tries to keep
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the battery as topped up as possible. Clearly if you move to sport it's much more about power
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rather than regeneration and if you go to track then obviously it's all about ultimate performance
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There are two key points to the Artura though where McLaren has actually stuck with
10:00
what it does really well, one of which is the steering, which remains hydraulic and not a full
10:07
e-pass system, which they could have done, obviously, for a little bit more gains on the
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consumption. But as we've said many times, McLaren steering is one of the best, if not arguably the
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best in the business at the moment. It's great news that they've stuck with that hydraulic setup
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The other is that there is no brake regeneration for the battery. It's all done via the electronics
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brakes and by the engine putting power back into the battery, which has enabled them not
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to deal with the thorny question of brake pedal feel when you're using the brakes to
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regen the battery. So there you have it, the Sport Series McLarens and no more
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The Artura sits with the 720S and the 765LT in the supercar column, with the GT and the
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Ultimate Series on either side. Compared with the 570S, this is one mile an hour faster, top end is two tenths quicker to 62, and it's over a second quicker from zero to 124 miles an hour
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So clearly the speed of the car is not in question. And this also seems to be a McLaren with a broader range of abilities as well
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The key question now will be whether it can combine that range of abilities with the kind of driver enjoyment and interaction we've come to expect from McLaren
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