This piece of news is going to make 375 extremely wealthy people very happy. McLaren has finally started producing the P1 customer cars at their high-tech facility in Woking, UK, and the first units will soon be delivered.
Before the McLaren P1 production begins proper, the British car maker launched a trial program in which their technicians built a number of mock P1s in full production trim. They were called training units. The idea was for the builders to get fully acquainted with the process, minimizing any chance of error in customer cars, and fishing out any possible imperfections.
McLaren P1 production line is unlike any other assembly facility you’ve seen before. It is basically a high-tech shed, in which a bunch of highly skilled craftsmen put the pieces together with utmost care and quality. That is quite important in a car that costs well over one million Euros, and can reach a top speed of 350 km/h.
The P1 is one of the cars that kick started the new generation of hybrid cars along with the LaFerrari and Porsche 918. It uses a hybrid module that helps a biturbo V8 petrol engine make more power when it’s needed, and use less fuel when it’s not. It also enables the car to cover a couple of miles solely on electricity. It is a rather clever bit of kit.