2025 McLaren Artura Spider Is an Exotic Droptop with a 690-HP Hybrid V-6

• The 2025 McLaren Artura Spider arrives with a retractable roof and alongside various updates to the lineup.

• The hybrid V-6 powertrain now produces 690 horsepower—a 19-hp increase versus the previous version.

• Deliveries of the 2025 Artura coupe and Spider will begin midway through this year.

Although the McLaren Artura was unveiled back in 2021, sales in the United States only kicked off last year after delays due to quality-control issues. Despite the setback, McLaren today revealed a host of improvements as well as the 2025 Artura Spider, which arrives with a retractable hardtop, a power increase, and a revised suspension. These same upgrades—sans the removable roof—also benefit the 2025 Artura coupe.

Beefed-Up Performance

The Spider is McLaren's first hybrid convertible and packs an upgraded version of the 120-degree 3.0-liter V-6 engine mated to an electric motor that first arrived in the coupe last year. The system now pumps out 690 horsepower to the rear wheels, an increase of 19 ponies over the 2024 model. Its peak torque is unchanged at 531 pound-feet, but McLaren says revised engine mapping has improved torque delivery. The axial-flux electric motor's 94-hp output is also the same, with all of the added oomph coming via the internal-combustion engine.

The hybrid setup is still hooked up to eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle, which incorporates the e-motor. The gearbox has been bolstered for 2025 with a new "pre-fill" feature that's claimed to shorten shift speeds by 25 percent, achieved by pressurizing the hydraulic fluid in the gearbox to the ideal threshold so the gearbox is immediately ready to shift when asked. An electronically controlled differential within the transmission apportions power between the rear wheels.

McLaren claims the Artura Spider will rip to 60 mph in 3.0 seconds, with 124 mph arriving in just 8.4 ticks. Top speed is an electronically limited 205 mph. Along with launch control, the Artura gains a new feature for 2025 called "Spinning Wheel Pull-Away." The system requires turning off stability control and allows for rowdy wheelspin when mashing the throttle from a stop, perfect for showing off while exiting the Pebble Beach car show.

McLaren promises improved handling characteristics thanks to new mounts that are supposed to better control the powertrain within the chassis and subsequently improve stability, steering feel, and overall handling. McLaren also revised the damper valving for quicker responsiveness by up to 90 percent. Three handling modes—Comfort, Sport, and Track—remain available, with drivers also able to adjust the amount of stability control intervention.

More Hardware Upgrades

For 2025, the Artura is also fitted with carbon-ceramic brake rotors paired with lightweight aluminum calipers and revised cooling ducts. Along with a recalibrated ABS system, McLaren claims the Artura can now haul itself to a stop from 62 mph in 102 feet. When we tested a 2023 Artura coupe, it needed 141 feet to stop from 70 mph and 279 feet to stop from 100 mph. We'll have to wait and see if the new stoppers provide improvements once we have the chance to test a 2025 model ourselves.