The open-top McLaren Artura Spider makes its debut

The open-top McLaren Artura Spider makes its debut

Being the first McLaren built on the brand’s Carbon Lightweight Architecture, the Artura remains a well-rounded package with sublime ride and handling.

As the first chapter of McLaren’s new hybrid generation and a brand new car that apparently shares nothing with what has gone before it, except perhaps the technical know-how from the P1 hybrid, we knew there was more coming, and here it is: the Artura Spider.

McLaren says it’s the first-ever convertible to pack a high-performance hybrid powertrain, but before getting to the nitty gritty of the hybridised powerplant and what the convertible brings, let’s start here.

You see, the Artura Spider has a dry weight of just 1,457kg – 62kg more than its coupe counterpart, and it’s understandably taking into account that convertibles are generally heavier than coupes. Also, to accommodate the retractable hardtop roof, the Artura Spider comes with a few design tweaks that include the addition of new buttresses, the repositioning of the engine’s cooling vents, and a windscreen surround.

The roof comes with a total of eight electric motors and opening and closing it down takes 11 seconds at speeds of up to 60km/h. The roof can be ordered with an electrochromatic glass panel, which the manufacturer says will be able to block more than 99% of sunlight at the touch of a button.

Inside, the Artura Spider remains similar to the coupe. You still get the same driver-focused cockpit, a driving mode selector, and separate powertrain and handling interfaces on the instrument binnacle. Like the coupe, the Spider’s ‘clean’ steering wheel is free of buttons and controls.

Getting to the powertrain, it packs the same 3.0-litre V6 twin-turbocharged engine that is paired with an electric motor. The setup is good for 500kW and 720Nm to the rear axle, enough to blister the supercar from 0-100km/h in 3.0 seconds (similar to the coupe) en route to a top speed of 330km/h while shifting through an 8-speed automatic transmission.

Aesthetically, the Artura Spider is available in 20 Elite colours in addition to the standard five, as well as 18 MSO colours.

The Artura, in essence, is a well-rounded package that is a very ambitious and skillfully executed example of modern supercar packaging and lightweight design.