McLaren has announced a new plan to launch 18 models in the next seven years in order to offer a full-hybrid lineup by 2025. This is in keeping with the company’s long-running plan to never let a car sit on sale for more than 15 minutes without announcing a replacement.
The British brand has only offered one hybrid—the P1 hypercar—in the past, and currently doesn’t sell a single electrified powertrain at the moment. That means every single McLaren will have to be replaced by 2025, although to be honest we wouldn’t be surprised if they were all-new by next week.
Aggressive plans like this are a stark contrast to rival automaker Lamborghini, which has historically used the strategy of waiting until their supercars start to rust on the lot before calling a guy who might know someone who could design a replacement.
For those concerned about McLaren’s electrified future, rest assured that the brand won’t be giving up on its psychotic focus on lightness. Per the press release:
The company will also continue its drive to win the new supercar ‘weight race’ by ensuring, as it does today, that each of its products is the lightest in their segment. This complements a £50m investment in developing and manufacturing the future of lightweighting technology with the soon to-open McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC).
You also shouldn’t expect a fully-electric supercar, as McLaren thinks the development of the technology isn’t at a point where they could make an exciting car using it.
The new powertrain goals also come with new sales expectations. McLaren expects that revamping its lineup will lead to sales of 6,000 cars per year by 2025, up from 3,340 in 2017.
To do so, they’re looking at expanding into markets like Russia and India while growing their retail network from 86 stores globally to 100. We also hear they want to speed up product cycle time, allowing them to replace vehicles before they ever go on sale.
One day all cars will be McLarens.