McLaren's next supercar will be so light it might float away, but will still be a beast
- The next McLaren supercar is lightweight but a total beast
- And it’s all down to a new collaboration with Divergent
- The startup boasts cutting-edge technology to create lightweight, 3D-printed vehicle parts
Published on Jul 08, 2024 at 8:31 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Jul 09, 2024 at 3:48 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
McLaren supercars are set to be unbelievably light due to a new partnership with an American hypercar maker.
Divergent has the cutting-edge technology to create lightweight, 3D-printed vehicle parts.
And it is Divergent’s Adaptive Production System (DAPS) that McLaren will use to create their chassis components.
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What does this mean for McLaren?
McLaren is hoping that the new partnership with the California-based brand will lead to an uptick in car performance.
With lighter components, vehicle performance will be improved – and production will become more efficient.
It will also allow for more intricate future designs.
Founded by the owners of Czinger, it’s also hoped that the collaboration using additive manufacturing (3D printing) will also result in more sustainable and efficient production techniques.
And with McLaren already boasting elaborate and complicated exterior designs made from carbon fiber and groundbreaking lightweight materials – the sky’s the limit.
The 3D-printed chassis components and the vehicles they’ll go into remain unspecified.
However, it’s thought that it’s likely to be the successor to the P1, which will use a hybrid V8 engine.
Hybrid and electric cars can be heavier due to battery packs and electric motors – so this technology is all about balancing that out.
Per a statement from McLaren, the new manufacturing system will allow it to ‘further reduce weight and improve dynamic performance’.
These are, of course, already key tenets of the Woking-based brand.
Light cars of the future
Divergent is a startup founded by Kevin Czinger, who’s responsible for the most power-dense production engine in the world.
The company previously partnered with Bugatti for the new V16-powered Tourbillion – which is a stunning vehicle.
It 3D printed the lightweight suspension components, weighing 45 percent less than the steel elements of the Bugatti Chiron.
This allows the Bugatti Tourbillon to weigh very little, despite its plug-in hybrid system.
What’s more, its performance is impressive – here’s how long it’d take the new Bugatti Tourbillon to go round the world at top speed.
Divergent hopes their new aspirational partnerships will pave the way for DAPS to be adopted throughout the automotive industry.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
