The Unicorn of McLaren Automotive‘s model line-up has just landed here in Malaysia. This is the McLaren Elva, the latest member of the marque’s Ultimate series, and is limited to just 149 units in the world.
Uniquely, the McLaren Elva features a completely open-top design, meaning there’s no roof here at all – not even a temporary fabric one. McLaren says that this was inspired by the first sports cars designed and raced by Bruce McLaren, the company’s founder. The car also initially made its debut globally without a physical windscreen, although a windscreen version was later introduced due to regulatory reasons in the US.
The McLaren Elva that made its debut here at the McLaren Kuala Lumpur showroom is the latter windscreen version, but the company says that customers will be able to order one without the windscreen too – though makes no promises that it’ll actually be road legal (pending JPJ’s type approval).
McLaren says that the Elva is the lightest road car it’s ever produced, tipping the scales at under 1,300 kg. The windscreen only adds about 20 kg to the car’s kerb weight, and that’s including the wipers, washer jets, sun visors, and heating elements in the glass itself!
The car is built almost entirely out of carbon fibre, including the chassis which is a bespoke version of the marque’s unique MonoCage III carbon fibre tub. On the windscreen Elva, even the glass surrounds are made out of carbon fibre as well!
Hiding underneath all of that shiny carbon fibre is a mid-rear mounted 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine (codenamed M840TR), making a whopping 815 hp @ 7,500 rpm and 800 Nm of torque @ 5,500 rpm. Drive is sent to the rear wheels via a seven-speed Seamless Shift Gearbox (SSG) for a 0-100 km/h time of just 2.8 seconds, onward to a top speed of 326 km/h.
It doesn’t just go fast, either; brakes are taken directly from the McLaren Senna hypercar, measuring 390 mm both front and back, while the active spoiler at the back also acts as an air brake during hard braking, giving you the best chance to slow the car down before every corner.
As this is an ultra-exclusive model, buyers can of course opt for their own specifications, both inside and out of the McLaren Elva. There’s even a range of race-inspired liveries available for selection if you’re so inclined.
Pricing wasn’t provided by McLaren Kuala Lumpur, although as the saying goes, “if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it”. The base-spec Elva starts from roughly GBP1.4 million over in the UK, which comes to about RM8 million when converted to Malaysian Ringgit, before all options, duties, and taxes – make of that what you will.
GALLERY
