McLaren and Honda may form road-car partnership

Earlier this year Honda announced it would return to Formula One as an engine supplier to McLaren from 2015, and now the two companies are reportedly looking at ways to extend their partnership to road cars.

UK’s Autocar magazine has quoted McLaren’s F1 team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, as saying there was potentially scope for the two engineering-driven firms to explore synergies in the production-car arena.

“It’s a pure Formula One contract, but we’ve already been looking at automotive technology and we’re sharing that very openly,” Whitmarsh told Autocar at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

“Our road car strategy at the moment has no other automotive partner, and Honda would be a good place to collaborate.

“Nothing’s fixed, but we’re open to that, and so are they,” he said.

However, even if McLaren and Honda were to co-operate on the development of road cars, the results wouldn’t be seen for several years, according to Whitmarsh.

As previously reported, McLaren’s model line-up for the next few years will be rounded-off by the P13, which is now in the prototype development phase.

“If you look at our product range, [the] 12C is running and will run for a few more years,” Whitmarsh said.

“P1 has just been launched and P13, which is the follow-up car, is relatively developed, so actually it [Honda input] is something that you would see in quite a few years to come.”

Honda is no stranger to the world of supercars, as its original NSX set new benchmarks for the genre when it launched in 1990.

The Japanese carmaker is now developing a second-generation, hybrid-powered NSX, which has reportedly been benchmarked against a McLaren 12C, among other rivals.

McLaren and Honda have a long history of cooperation, as the two companies paired up to win four Formula One drivers’ championships and four constructors’ crowns from 1988-92. During that period, McLaren driver Ayrton Senna (who was revered within Honda) also participated in the development of the original NSX.

Honda’s subsequent stab at F1 with its own team was far less successful, prompting the company to pull out before the start of the 2009 season (which, ironically, the team won after being re-branded to Brawn GP).

The Japanese carmaker has now opted to return to the pinnacle of motorsport owing to Formula One’s move to 1.6-litre V6 turbo engines and extensive energy recovery technology from 2014.

“Honda has a long history of advancing our technologies and nurturing our people by participating in the world’s most prestigious automobile racing series,” said Honda boss, Takanobu Ito.

“The new F1 regulations with their significant environmental focus will inspire even greater development of our own advanced technologies.”

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