2023 McLaren Artura: THE FUTURE OF SPORTS CARS

2023 McLaren Artura:

THE FUTURE OF SPORTS CARS

McLaren Automobiles has relocated from New York to Coppell, landing in a brand new, 31,000 square foot headquarters. Nick Brown, McLaren of the Americas president and Wes Mays, the Mayor of Coppell, joined a group of enthusiasts with over 50 vehicles on hand to tour the company’s new facility. A brief video of the history of McLaren was shown, noting that founder Bruce McLaren didn’t want to continue driving other people’s cars and winning races. Instead, Bruce wanted his own car and winning his own championships as both driver and manufacturer. And win he did, from Le Mans in 1966 (in the Ford GT40) to his cars taking five Can-Am championships in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. 

Regrettably, Bruce’s involvement with his namesake company ended with his death, while testing a McLaren Can-Am car, in 1970. You have to believe he’d be thrilled to know what a great job has been carried out in the years since the founding of McLaren Automotive in 1963. At the same time the McLaren’s USA headquarters opens – with its state-of-the-art workshop and training facility – McLaren introduces its all-new Artura, arguably one of the bigger steps in the evolution of the sports car.  

A strong American dealer network benefits from centrally located headquarters, and the  new facility provides technical service support. In 2011 McLaren was located in a 4,500 square foot downtown New York office suite, while today the company occupies a complex some seven times that original size.  With this new location you will be able to conveniently access the new McLaren offices from both DFW Airport or Love Field, both easier than Newark or JFK.  

McLaren is a pioneer and continuously pushes the boundaries. In 1981 they introduced lightweight and strong carbon fiber chassis into Formula One with the McLaren MP4/1. In 1993 they designed and built the McLaren F1 road car; the company has not built a car without a carbon fiber carbon fiber chassis since then. McLaren was also the first to deliver a hybrid hypercar, its McLaren P1.

McLaren’s new Artura has a base price of $237,500, which may seem like a lot, but it really isn’t that much for this type of design and performance – according to Car and Driver the Artura goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3.2 sec from a rolling start. Options include  technology and performance packages, special wheels and painted brake calipers; in short, there are all kinds of boxes to check, most at a substantial cost upgrade – you pay your money and you take your choice. 

No question this will be a great sports car, especially in Texas; you can drive long (perhaps winding) roads forever and enjoy the extreme power and handling of this vehicle. If you get a chance to see their facility it is jam-packed with these brand-new vehicles, all of which are on their way to new customers at some point. Incredible styling complemented by great colors and beautiful interiors – notably, even the paint comes from a special vendor overseas, and the cost of the gallon of paint for this car you could buy a good used car. Every vehicle is hand-assembled at the McClaren Production (MPC) in Woking, Surrey, England.