Earlier this week, McLaren teased that it was on the edge of revealing its newest supercar; the Artura. It’s a model set to signal a few big firsts for the British car-maker. It will be the first McLaren to be powered by an electrified hybrid V6, and it’s the first car to be based on McLaren’s new carbon-fibre monocoque, known as the Carbon Lightweight Architecture, or MCLA.
McLaren issued some teaser images showing the Artura’s rear badge as part of the announcement, plus some photos of a prototype sporting heavy camouflage. But, our sister publication, NZ Autocar, thought it could go one better.
Patent drawings of the Artura have also been leaked onto the internet, showing extensive profiling of the Artura’s exterior from all angles. NZ Autocar designer Alex Schultz has had a crack at drawing McLaren’s new beast based off the patents, the camouflaged test cars, and the light profile illustrated on other Sport Series models. These images are the result.
Given the level of detail featured in the patent drawings, Alex is confident enough to say that this is effectively what the new mid-ship supercar will look like. The main point of artistic license has been figuring out how light will interact with each panel and which contours will become highlighted in the sun.
The Artura’s styling features the adoption from the more powerful Super Series, where cars like the 720S reside. The Artura picks up sunken headlight shrouds similar to the 720S, plus a pair of LED daytime running lights underneath. A familiar arc used across the Sport Series line-up curls around the headlights and down to each side of the 600LT-esque splitter underneath — helping create vents for the front brakes.
Going by the teaser imagery, the rear grille joining the taillights and enveloping the dual exhaust pipes is going to be a large, honeycomb, X-shaped affair, and perhaps the most different thing about the Artura’s looks relative to other McLaren models. Other interesting changes featured on the Artura include a very different new side intake profile and seemingly more pronounced ‘flying buttresses’.
While it might look like a simple cut and shut job on McLaren’s current Sport Series 570S at first glance, the firm has assured everyone that the new model is all-new from the ground up. Expect over time for the new platform underneath the Artura to become adopted by other models in the range.
“Every element of the Artura is all-new – from the platform architecture and every part of the High-Performance Hybrid powertrain, to the exterior body, interior and cutting-edge driver interface,” says McLaren CEO Mike Flewett.
“But it draws on decades of McLaren experience in pioneering super-lightweight race and road car technologies to bring all of our expertise in electrification to the supercar class.”