New car looms from McLaren F1-creator

By Phil McNamara

Motor Industry

13 June 2007 10:18

Gordon Murray is set to finally realise his dream of creating a highly efficient, radical car for mass production.

The mastermind behind the F1 supercar left McLaren Cars a couple of years ago, and has now secured the funding to set up on his own. Gordon Murray Design Limited – a design, prototyping and development company – will be launched on 4 July. Murray will reveal detailed plans then, but expect visions of a radical family car, a long-held pet project. 'My passion lies in small, light, strong advanced vehicles,' he told CAR back in 2004. 'The next project is a personal transport thing. The vehicle is so radical that you'd have to let people try it in everyday use.' Most modern cars with their burgeoning mass leave Murray cold, but he is known fan of the space-efficient Smart City Car and functional Renault Kangoo. 'My passion is packaging. If you want to make something that takes a step forward or helps people with congestion and the environment, it's about packaging,' he has told CAR.

Anyone expecting another 242mph supercar like the F1 will be disappointed, although Murray has got involved with the forthcoming Caparo T1 hypercar, the spiritual successor to the F1 under development by Caparo Vehicle Technologies. Indeed, automotive engineering conglomerate Caparo is one of Murray's backers, along with venture capitalists MDV-Mohr Davidow. Angad Paul, Caparo group boss, told CAR Online: 'Finally Gordon will have his own voice in automotive design, and we want to bring a lot of his thinking to fruition. Gordon is a hero and a legend and it's phenomenal for me to be able to work with him.'

By Phil McNamara