The proposed date for McLaren’s Artura to reach customers was in Q3 of 2021, which quite obviously has come and gone without any of the hyper-expensive hyper-cars actually rolling off the production line. The car was originally shown to the world back in February of this year, and order books opened at the same time. With deliveries now slated for July of next year, it’s looking like everyone who ordered one back then is going to have to wait at least a year and a half to get their British plug-in hybrid electric sport car. The reason? No chips.
Automotive News recently confirmed the delay with a spokesperson from McLaren:
“We held on longer than everybody else in terms of stopping production, but unfortunately, our semiconductor supply dried up,” the spokesperson said. “That made us have to reduce production across the board.”
McLaren was originally quite optimistic that the Artura would account for around 40 percent of its 2022 deliveries, but that’s obviously not going to be the case now. It was also likely hoping that the plug-in hybrid would help its fuel economy and carbon emissions numbers, as well. The company regularly trades on its ability to churn out new models and fresh product, so a nine to ten month delay in new product is bad news all around for McLaren.
This was supposed to be the new bread-and-butter McLaren, taking over for the long-serving Sports series, currently occupied by the 720S and 765LT. This is McLaren’s answer to Ferrari’s hybrid V6 296 GTB. The car was an all-new chassis with an all-new V6 twin-turbo engine and an all-new hybrid system. It produces 671 horsepower and 531 lb-ft of torque, jumping from 0-60 in just 3 seconds, and undercutting the Ferrari by a hundred grand.
With chips still delayed by months, it’s not looking like automobile prices will be going down any time soon, nor will we be rid of dealer ADM. I don’t exactly shop in the quarter-million dollar price range, but I have to imagine the McLaren dealers are adding similar dealer markups, maybe in the tens of thousands of dollars. Won’t someone think of the billionaires?