McLaren is offering a windshield on the exclusive Elva roadster for customers who prefer a physical screen. Keep in mind, the Elva’s core appeal was tied up in the fact it lacked a windshield in the first place, so consider this a weird development. This newly windscreened version of the Elva eliminates McLaren’s clever Active
McLaren Elva gets a windscreen, but no roof, windows
28 May 2021 10:38 am / 1 comment
The McLaren Elva, first seen in November 2019, gets a windscreen. Wait, what? Yup, before this the Elva didn’t have a windscreen, and the car you see here still doesn’t have a roof, side windows or rear screen. That’s because the Elva is Woking’s lightest-ever road car, weighing below 1,300 kg.
The target for the windscreen version is only 20 kg heavier, even with the inclusion of rain-sensing wipers, washer jets and sun visors, as well as the main event – a heated glass windscreen within a carbon fibre surround. The Active Air Management System (AAMS) is deleted as it has no role to play in the windscreen car.
McLaren Automotive will shortly commence production of the windscreen version of its Elva roadster. Designed for customers who prefer to have a physical screen rather than the barrier of air provided by the Active Air Management System (AAMS), as well as to meet local legal requirements in some states in the USA, the windscreen variant – which will be among the rarest of McLarens – was revealed in full for the first time, with images of the prototype car.
As Mike Flewitt, Chief Executive Officer, McLaren Automotive says, “Super-lightweight and extremely powerful, the Elva delivers the ultimate connection between a driver, the road and the elements. Created to celebrate the pure joy of driving, it’s one of the most distinctive – and exclusive – cars we have made. Roofless and without windows, whether you opt for the screenless model with its sophisticated AAMS technology that provides an invisible barrier of air, or the windscreen version with an additional level of e
Even with a windshield the McLaren Elva looks wild
Chris Davies - May 27, 2021, 2:30pm CDT
McLaren has revealed the newest version of its super-lightweight Elva roadster, this time fitting a windshield to the 804 horsepower road-legal rocket. First unveiled in late 2019, the original Elva was distinguished as much by its absence of any front glass as by its $1.69 million price tag, though McLaren did say at the time that it would have a more traditional version in time.
Today we’re seeing what that actually looks like, though it’s still hard to think of this windshield-equipped Elva as being anything close to ordinary. Unchanged is the form-follows-function carbon fiber body, which helps achieve the sub-2,866 pound dry curb weight, and of course the blistering speed.