McLaren Automotive has had a busy couple of weeks. Not only was it rumored the British sports carmaker was the target of an acquisition by Apple-- which it came out saying it was not interested-- but the company has long been in development of a pure electric vehicle (EV) for a while now.
However, no one probably thought this would be its first product. McLaren has rolled out a premium electric car that is targeted at drivers under the age of six. The Mclaren P1 is a toy vehicle for children looking to step up their toy automotive game with a classy and sporty vehicle.
The McLaren P1 electric vehicle goes from 0 to 3mph in two seconds, features dihedral doors and a central driving position. Source: McLaren While the toy car is targeted at children, the carmaker says it is a step toward its larger strategy to deploy an EV that will one say sit in its Ultimate Series of sports cars.
The McLaren P1 is considered to be the little brother of McLaren’s larger full-size sports cars with a central driving position, dihedral doors and acceleration—it is able to go from zero to its maximum speed in just two seconds. The maximum speed, by the way, is 3mph.
The toy electric car also includes activation lights, air conditioning, an MP3 player, audio system and pre-programmed songs including popular nursery rhymes. The one thing the car doesn’t feature is McLaren’s color combination as the toy EV only comes in one color—Volcano Yellow.
Still, the P1 is the first official electric vehicle from McLaren and the first children’s toy car it has produced. It will be available at the end of October priced at about $488.
To contact the author of this article, email engineering360editors@ihs.com
