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McLaren pencils in electrified P1 successor for 2024 release

The limited-edition P1's long-awaited successor will be the next model added to McLaren's Ultimate Series. The company confirmed development work has started, but it won't release the yet-unnamed car until 2024. Picking up where the P1 (pictured) left off is a Herculean task; the hybrid hypercar built from 2013 to 2015 is one of the models that defined electrified performance in the 2010s. Its successor can't be merely an evolution of it with a re-shaped lower bumper and a 15-horsepower bump. It needs to take a leap forward in terms of design, technology, and performance. McLaren hasn't revealed what the car will be powered by, but its chief executive stated electrification is a must. "We haven't announced the powertrain. Obviously, looking forward, it will be either hybridized or an EV," company boss Mike Flewitt told British magazine Autocar. The carmaker previously affirmed it's not in a rush to release an electric car, and Flewitt highlighted the many hurdles still standing in the way of the technology.  "Take the 765LT as an example. We know a lot of customers are going to take that to the track. If it were an EV, you would be looking at maybe 30 minutes of running time, and then plugging it in until the next day. That's not a persuasive position," he explained. Electric technology is advancing at a rapid pace, so engineers could solve these problems in the coming years, but most signs point to the P1's successor offering hybrid power. Looks will be very much a part of the car's appeal, and it's expected to move McLaren's design language forward. It's reasonable to assume active aerodynamic add-ons and an adjustable suspension will be part of the package, too. More details about the car (which will arrive as a limited-edition model) will emerge in the coming months. The four-year time frame gives McLaren plenty of time to fine-tune the coupe, which it refers to internally as the son of P1. In the meantime, it's focusing on ramping up production of the Elva, a windshield-less Ultimate Series model originally limited to 399 units. The firm lowered that figure to 249 after analyzing feedback from its clients. Related Video:

One of only two McLaren F1s in LM-Specification headed for auction in Monterey

Of all the McLaren F1s out there (106 of them, including racecars and other variants), this 1994 F1 in LM-Specification is about as special as they get. Incredibly, it’s going up for auction in Monterey at the RM SothebyÂ’s auction house during Monterey Car Week. Why a McLaren F1 owner would ever want to sell their car is beyond us, but weÂ’re sure the millions of dollars on the other side of the gavel look pretty alright. This F1 happens to be one of two in existence in LM-Specification. In case you werenÂ’t familiar with the model, McLaren upgraded two standard F1 road cars to this particular specification at the factory after the production run had finished. That means the engine was upgraded to the unrestricted 680-horsepower GTR spec. An extra-high downforce kit was also added, consisting of a huge rear wing, revised nose and different front fender vents. Other differences between this and a normal F1 include race-spec dampers and springs adjusted to their softest settings, 17-inch wheels, a transmission cooler, two more radiators and a modified exhaust system. What it doesnÂ’t have is the barren interior from the hardcore LM. Instead, McLaren gave it an upgraded air conditioning system, radio, new headlights and a different steering wheel. That means you have the more aggressive performance with a slightly more comfortable living space, a combination we like. McLaren says it made all these changes over two rounds of modifications in 2000 and 2001. The car was also repainted from its original blue to the silver you see now in that timeframe.  This particular F1 has 13,352 miles on the odometer, and it has been given a full written history and evaluation by MSO. WeÂ’re sure itÂ’s going to nab many millions of dollars. To whoever ends up purchasing this fine McLaren, we envy you greatly.

The UK votes for Brexit and it will impact automakers

It's the first morning after the United Kingdom voted for what's become known as Brexit – that is, to leave the European Union and its tariff-free internal market. Now begins a two-year process in which the UK will have to negotiate with the rest of the EU trading bloc, which is its largest export market, about many things. One of them may be tariffs, and that could severely impact any automaker that builds cars in the UK. This doesn't just mean companies that you think of as British, like Mini and Jaguar. Both of those automakers are owned by foreign companies, incidentally. Mini and Rolls-Royce are owned by BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover by Tata Motors of India, and Bentley by the VW Group. Many other automakers produce cars in the UK for sale within that country and also export to the EU. Tariffs could damage the profits of each of these companies, and perhaps cause them to shift manufacturing out of the UK, significantly damaging the country's resurgent manufacturing industry. Autonews Europe dug up some interesting numbers on that last point. Nissan, the country's second-largest auto producer, builds 475k or so cars in the UK but the vast majority are sent abroad. Toyota built 190k cars last year in Britain, of which 75 percent went to the EU and just 10 percent were sold in the country. Investors are skittish at the news. The value of the pound sterling has plummeted by 8 percent as of this writing, at one point yesterday reaching levels not seen since 1985. Shares at Tata Motors, which counts Jaguar and Land Rover as bright jewels in its portfolio, were off by nearly 12 percent according to Autonews Europe. So what happens next? No one's terribly sure, although the feeling seems to be that the jilted EU will impost tariffs of up to 10 percent on UK exports. It's likely that the UK will reciprocate, and thus it'll be more expensive to buy a European-made car in the UK. Both situations will likely negatively affect the country, as both production of new cars and sales to UK consumers will both fall. Evercore Automotive Research figures the combined damage will be roughly $9b in lost profits to automakers, and an as-of-yet unquantified impact on auto production jobs. Perhaps the EU's leaders in Brussels will be in a better mood in two years, and the process won't devolve into a trade war. In the immediate wake of the Brexit vote, though, the mood is grim, the EU leadership is angry, and investors are spooked.