McLaren has given us some incredible supercars over the years. The MP4-12C, the P1, the 720S, and so on and so forth. One of those supercars from the British company has been the Artura, a car that had a troubled launch but finally reached the public six years ago.
But it looks like the end might be in sight for the Woking manufacturer’s hybrid supercar. Even though it is only six years on from its introduction, a report by Automotive News has stated that the company is planning to bring production to an end in 2028.
While the demise of the Artura is not yet official, there is no smoke without fire. Automotive News cited a person who has been briefed on the plans at McLaren. But when you dig deeper into the Artura, it does start to make some sense.
The Artura had a troubled upbringing, suffering quality control issues and various delays up to its launch. The British manufacturer even stopped deliveries at one point to address the problems. So in many ways, the demise of the Artura isn’t one that many have found completely unexpected.
Why Is McLaren Retiring the Artura?
If the report is accurate, there are a few reasons why McLaren is retiring the Artura. The troubles it has had in both its development and production have not helped. The market launch of the car was delayed multiple times before production finally began in 2022. But after that, customers began reporting quality issues, with the company stopping deliveries altogether for a period of time to try to fix the problems.
Then-CEO Michael Leiters would later admit that the car wasn’t ‘mature enough.’ At the end of 2022, he said: “We already had a significant delay in our production line at the time, and we reduced [production] to zero [cars] a day to fix our quality problems.” While the problems that the supercar has faced haven’t helped, it isn’t the only reason McLaren is looking to move on from the Artura.
McLaren had hoped that the Artura would bring in a younger, more tech-focused audience to the brand. That doesn’t look to have worked. Therefore, its next steps look very different. McLaren is apparently preparing a new hybrid coupe that will launch in 2027, and it currently boasts the codename P34. While we do not know what this new car will look like, there have been some hints as to its makeup and what else is coming from the company.
McLaren Is Planning Plenty of New Models
The new P34 is expected to have an electrified twin-turbocharged V6 powertrain, with a combined power output of over 800hp. More than the Artura produced from its 671 hp powertrain. The Automotive News report suggested that it would land after the 720S, 750S, and 765LT had finished production, and just before the Artura itself bid farewell. It would give the launch of the new P34 a nice seamless transition from the old model to the new, without punctuating the lineup.
That doesn’t appear to be all that McLaren is planning. More reports have come in suggesting that CEO Nick Collins is planning a whole new generation of vehicles. A McLaren SUV is very much being considered, as is a GT-styled model, as the company looks to expand the range further. The GT-styled car is set to be a replacement for the GTS. Some will bemoan the addition of an SUV, but many of the major supercar players now make one, including Ferrari. While the Artura didn’t herald the new era that McLaren would have wanted, it certainly looks like the future is bright for the British manufacturer.