DESIGN: P1-INSPIRED
Q: The Artura is full of new tech – is there enough design differentiation?
A: ‘It’s designed to occupy a certain position in the market, it needs to clearly sit between the GT and the 720S, and then it needed to package our new powertrain. These are all factors, and then there’s making it a McLaren. We do that by staying true to our principles. The truth is we’re maturing as a company, and you have to build the brand equity and the design identity. We’ve tended to make big steps and dramatic changes, which is exciting – every car has had this incredible expression of our DNA – but when you make huge leaps there’s no consistency for the people who actually buy the cars. We want to hang on to our identity – if we gave it up, somebody would gladly take it from us.’
Q: Did you consider highlighting the new powertrain with some wild new design language?
A: ‘Good question. I’ve been with McLaren 12 years; my first day was the first day of the P1. I remember thinking about the front end and the face of the brand, and that car was essentially designed with the world of electrification and aero ahead of us. For us the challenge was managing the airflow with a view to alternative powertrains. So, I can genuinely say now that we designed the P1 that way for this moment, so we wouldn’t have to tear up the face of our cars when we electrified, or fill in our grille and make it blue to say, “We’re electric”…’
Q: Which previous McLarens most heavily influenced the Artura?
A: ‘The shrink-wrapping of the car’s skin around the engineering within, the layering and the showing off of our aerodynamic thinking – that all comes from P1. The laws of aerodynamics don’t change but our ability to understand them is constantly improving. No one can see how the air’s moving around the car, but we can create a form that expresses it. In this regard the P1 was influential, as was the purity of the F1. And then we have our established identity. But being McLaren, of course we’ll also innovate – and when the time’s right we’ll make stepchanges; always brave.’