Photo: superrenderscars via Instagram
Considering everything that's going on in the automotive industry, it's easy to imagine the Artura as the first step toward McLaren's inevitably electrified future.
It is the brand's first hybrid model—and a plug-in hybrid, no less—and judging by the model's performance figures, as well as its price, McLaren appears to have nailed it with its first try. The Artura is less expensive than the McLaren GT and costs only marginally more than the 570S, yet it offers more power than both of its stablemates, not to mention other benefits as well.
Being a plug-in hybrid, the super sports car can travel on electric power alone for up to 19 miles (30 km). That's obviously not a lot (and its power is also restricted to the 94 hp developed by the electric motor placed in the transmission housing while it runs exclusively on electrons), but it's enough to give it access in areas that would have otherwise frowned at the emissions from its 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6.
The Artura has a lot of things going for it, then (though its name isn't probably one of them). It certainly scores high in the design department. It doesn't stray far from the rest of the pack, but those vertical air vents stretching from under the headlights carry a strong Porsche Taycan influence—which, admittedly, is not the worst car to resemble.
One artist certainly found Artura's appearance intriguing enough to give it a virtual makeover and turn it into a shooting brake. The new lines seem to fit the hybrid McLaren, turning it into some sort of Ferrari GTC4Lusso rival, but one question arises: who (or what) does that extra cabin serve?
Until McLaren launches a full EV, that space behind the two seats will be reserved for one thing and one thing only: the internal combustion engine. Unless this Artura shooting brake uses a front-mounted boxer engine that can fit in its low nose and is powerful enough to deliver the power required by the badge, we don't see how something like this could ever come to life, regardless of how good it looks. And it does look pretty cool.
On the other hand, it's not as if the Artura shooting brake could ever fit more than two seats even with no engine behind, so perhaps the car could keep its V6 and gain a bit more storage room on top of it. It wouldn't make that much sense in the grand scheme of things, but we're pretty sure a lot of people would buy it just for the novelty factor. We're part of those people.
Being a plug-in hybrid, the super sports car can travel on electric power alone for up to 19 miles (30 km). That's obviously not a lot (and its power is also restricted to the 94 hp developed by the electric motor placed in the transmission housing while it runs exclusively on electrons), but it's enough to give it access in areas that would have otherwise frowned at the emissions from its 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6.
The Artura has a lot of things going for it, then (though its name isn't probably one of them). It certainly scores high in the design department. It doesn't stray far from the rest of the pack, but those vertical air vents stretching from under the headlights carry a strong Porsche Taycan influence—which, admittedly, is not the worst car to resemble.
One artist certainly found Artura's appearance intriguing enough to give it a virtual makeover and turn it into a shooting brake. The new lines seem to fit the hybrid McLaren, turning it into some sort of Ferrari GTC4Lusso rival, but one question arises: who (or what) does that extra cabin serve?
Until McLaren launches a full EV, that space behind the two seats will be reserved for one thing and one thing only: the internal combustion engine. Unless this Artura shooting brake uses a front-mounted boxer engine that can fit in its low nose and is powerful enough to deliver the power required by the badge, we don't see how something like this could ever come to life, regardless of how good it looks. And it does look pretty cool.
On the other hand, it's not as if the Artura shooting brake could ever fit more than two seats even with no engine behind, so perhaps the car could keep its V6 and gain a bit more storage room on top of it. It wouldn't make that much sense in the grand scheme of things, but we're pretty sure a lot of people would buy it just for the novelty factor. We're part of those people.
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