McLaren launches carbon chassis developed at tech centre in region
A NEW carbon fibre chassis developed in South Yorkshire for automotive giant McLaren’s hybrid and electric supercars will launch next year.
The new vehicle architecture, designed specifically to accommodate new hybrid powertrains, has been entirely engineered, developed and produced in-house in the UK at McLaren’s £50m state-ofthe-art McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC) at Rotherham.
Mike Flewitt, CEO of McLaren Automotive, confirmed the introduction of the brand’s allnew, flexible, lightweight vehicle architecture would enable McLaren to transition to 100 per cent electrified supercars.
The new flexible vehicle architecture utilises innovative, world-first processes and techniques to strip out excess mass, reduce overall vehicle weight, while also further improving safety.
It will underpin the next generation of McLaren hybrid models as the supercar company enters its second decade of series vehicle production.
Mr Flewitt said: “The new ground-breaking vehicle architecture is every bit as revolutionary as the MonoCell chassis we introduced with the company’s first car, the 12C, when we first embarked on making production vehicles a decade ago.
“This new, ultra-lightweight carbon fibre chassis boasts greater structural integrity and higher levels of quality than ever before with our new MCTC facility quickly becoming recognised as a global centre of excellence in composite materials science and manufacturing.
“Our advanced expertise in lightweight composites processes and manufacturing combined with our experience in cutting-edge battery technology and highperformance hybrid propulsion systems means we are ideally placed to deliver to customers levels of electrified highperformance motoring that until now have simply been unattainable.”
This new chassis boasts greater integrity and higher levels of quality. Mike Flewitt, chief executive of McLaren Automotive