McLaren fits windscreen to Elva

In a surprising about-face, McLaren has decided to offer its crazy, limited-edition Elva hypercar with a conventional windscreen option.

And if that weren’t shocking enough, the British marque has announced yet another reduction of the Elva’s total production numbers.

When it was initially unveiled back in November 2019, McLaren said it would build 399 examples of the AU$2.7 million hypercar.

Then, in April 2020, the British marque said it was reducing the total number of Elvas to just 249 examples under the pretext of making the roofless hypercar “more exclusive”.

Now, McLaren has lopped another hundred examples from the total production tally, saying just 149 examples will be produced.

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The combination of adding a windscreen and more than halving initial production numbers, unfortunately, reeks of a car that just won’t sell.

The formula for making a limited-edition super/hypercar desirable is a complicated one, but it’s a trick McLaren is still yet to master, with the Woking firm continually criticised for a seemingly unintelligible product line-up and hit-and-miss resale values.

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Regardless of this recent news, though, in classic McLaren fashion, the windscreen that’s been affixed to Elva’s new cowl is a very clever one.

With its carbon-fibre surround, the heated glass windscreen, which also scores automatic rain-sensing wipers, washer jets, and sun visors, has only added an extra 20 kilograms to the Elva’s 1300kg dry kerb weight.

Obviously, the ingenious but ugly looking Active Air Management System (AAMS) has been removed as well, which would’ve shed a few kilograms.

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The McLaren Elva is an incredibly potent automobile with or without a windscreen, with its Ricardo-built twin-turbo 4.0-litre flat-plane crank V8 producing more power than its track-ready McLaren Senna sibling – 600kW and 800Nm.

Combining that amount of oomph with a kerb weight roughly the same as Ford’s Fiesta ST equates to some pretty absurd performance figures.

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0-100km/h takes less than three seconds, 0-200km/h is dealt with in 6.7 seconds, and in the 1/4 mile sprint, one YouTuber found out the Elva will go well under 10 seconds, although controversy ensued.

These numbers mean the McLaren comfortably outguns its other limited-edition, windscreen-less hypercars like the Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2 and Aston Martin V12 Speedster.

The British hypercar is due to go into production shortly, with customer deliveries expected to begin before the end of 2021.

Just how many Elvas will actually be sold remains a mystery.