It’s something of a running joke among car journalists and enthusiasts that all the McLarens are basically the same, essentially a slight variation on the same basic carbon fibre composite chassis that underpinned the MP4-12C when it came out in 2011. That car being the first production car designed and made by McLaren Automotive since the iconic McLaren F1 of 1992.
And so here’s fair warning that virtually all the stuff you’ll read about the next generation of McLaren cars from now on will make a reference to the carbon fibre tub you see pictured below, which is McLaren’s brand new chassis and which was unveiled by the company today.
Made specifically to accommodate hybrid powertrains, it was designed, and will be produced, entirely in-house at McLaren’s ‘Composites Technology Centre’ near Sheffield. Yep, this carbon fella is a reet proper northerner.
According to McLaren it uses “world first processes and techniques” that strip out excess mass and reduce overall vehicle weight, while having superior strength in order to improve car safety.
Sadly, McLaren has resisted the urge to give the chassis a fancy name, which in our view is a big loss for its PR department – and especially surprising given the MP4-12C chassis was called ‘MonoCell’, which sort of gave it a life of its own. Take the Jaguar petrol and diesel engines developed from 2015, for instance, which at launch were far from the most appealing engines in the world, and yet by virtue of Jaguar calling them “Ingenium” they were afforded a mystique and credibility that surpassed their actual desirability; give your four-cylinder diesel a fancy name and it instantly feels 20bhp more powerful.
And so, we’re going to call this the McTub. Because Chassis McChassisface is probably already taken.
McLaren doesn’t give too much detail about the McTub, but the infographic below explains that “hundreds of pieces of carbon fibre cloth developed specifically for McLaren are cut for every chassis.” These are aligned and resin moulded together to form a material that’s both extremely light and strong. It’s built to accommodate the architecture of hybrid petrol-electric supercars but it will also, according to McLaren, enable it to transition smoothly to eventually building all-electric supercars.
“Our advanced expertise in light weight composites processes and manufacturing combined with our experience in cutting-edge battery technology and high-performance hybrid propulsion systems means we are ideally placed to deliver to customers levels of electrified high-performance motoring that until now have simply been unattainable. For us, light-weighting and electrification go hand-in-hand to achieve better performance as well as more efficient vehicles,” said McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt.
The first McLaren to use McTub will be released early next year.
Keyword: McLaren unveils next generation ‘electric’ carbon chassis