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More than half of new McLarens will be hybrids by 2022

McLaren has an ambitious growth plan. After building just 1,654 cars in 2015, CEO Mike Flewitt expects the Woking, UK,-based company to churn out 3,000 units in 2016, but doubling production is only the start. Flewitt predicts that figure will swell to 4,500 to 5,000 annually, which "is about capacity," for the company's production facility, he told Automotive News Europe. The increase in production is key to a revenue-driven research-and-development effort that will allow the company to create 15 new products and introduce "a completely new powertrain architecture ... specifically designed for a hybridized application," Flewitt said. "In the latter part of this business plan to 2022, more than half our cars will be hybrids," Flewitt told ANE. "This second powertrain will run in parallel to the eight cylinder we have today and will have hybrid technology integrated into it from day one." This new model would arrive near the end of the decade, Flewitt said, but unlike the company's current and only hybrid, the P1, it won't be a plug-in hybrid. Related Video:

McLaren 675LT Spider Carbon Series stuns in naked carbon fiber

Following its two-car showing at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, McLaren Special Operations has turned out another special edition 675LT Spider – the Carbon Series LT. The last time McLaren's custom division touched a droptop 675LT, it was this lovely Ceramic Gray model shown in Geneva. This new one ditches the paint altogether, opting for exposed carbon fiber across the entire body. According to MSO, an extra 40 percent of the body panels are carbon fiber – the "retractable roof and tonneau, A-pillars, bonnet and rear deck, side blades, complete front and rear wings, and even fuel filler flap" are all finished in the stuff. That's on top of the pieces that were already carbon-fiber, like the front bumper, splitter, side skirts, side intakes, rear fenders, rear deck, bumper, diffuser, and airbrake. McLaren went with a gloss finish all around. What hasn't changed is the 675LT's powerplant. A 666-horsepower, 3.8-liter, twin-turbo V8 remains on duty. McLaren hasn't published any performance metrics for the MSO Carbon Series LT, but replacing a painted body with an exposed carbon-fiber one should lead to a healthy drop in weight, which in turn should improve acceleration, braking, and handling. MSO is only building 25 Carbon Series LTs, and they've all been spoken for. McLaren is selling these 25 cars in addition to the 675LT's original 500-unit run, though, so at the very least, your chances of purchasing a used long-tail in the future have increased, if only incrementally. Oh, and if you're waiting for delivery of your standard long-tail and think you can just ask real nicely for some more carbon fiber, McLaren claims the "significant additional development work by the team of MSO craftsmen," prevents swapping the normal car's body panels for the carbon-fiber pieces. Related Video:

McLaren P1 throwing down the gauntlet with 6:30 Nurburgring lap time?

The magic mark at the Nurburgring once stood in the sevens. Anything that could lap the vaunted Nordschleife in less than eight minutes was considered biblically fast. But with all manner of vehicles clocking lap times that start with a seven, the goal post has moved below the seven-minute mark and into the sixes. Discounting barely-legal track cars from Radical, whose LMP-style pseudo-racers top the time charts, the Porsche 918 Spyder holds the record as the fastest street-legal production car ever to lap the Ring at 6:57. A blindingly fast lap time, to be sure, but the 918 isn't the only new hybrid hypercar in its class. According to official factory statements, the McLaren P1 has lapped the winding German circuit in under seven minutes. And rumor has it that its actual lap time, though not confirmed, was clocked at 6:47. That would already make it considerably faster than the Porsche, but that's not the end of the story. According to an unnamed inside source cited by Autocar, the P1 has actually lapped the Nurburgring in "six minutes 30 something." That would make it nearly half a minute faster than the Porsche, and a good ten seconds quicker even than the Radical SR8 LM. For its part, McLaren has yet to confirm the time, but we're sure it will in due course. For that matter, though Maranello has tested the new LaFerrari to the track, it has yet to announce any official time. But with the gauntlet thrown down, we wouldn't be surprised to see a scarlet-clad test team heading north to Germany in the near future. The last time they did, they clocked a 6:58 lap time with the 599XX, but while production-based, that car was never meant to drive on public streets. Featured Gallery McLaren P1 N?rburgring Run View 11 Photos News Source: Autocar McLaren Coupe Performance mclaren p1