[a_j_b]

Wouldn't be surprised if it had more to do with their expertise with carbon fibre than anything else. You're not going to find anyone with more expertise with that material than F1 teams.

[arethuza]

Pagani have a separate company dedicated to carbon composite manufacturing and consulting - they came up with the "carbotanium" bonded carbon composites and titanium used in the Huayra:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbotanium

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagani_Huayra

Pagani make McLaren look mass market!

[crispyambulance]

Pagani cars also look like they've been designed by 11 year old boys on a sugar-high.

[arethuza]

That's a bad thing? :-)

[crispyambulance]

Not necessarily, but very few people can pull off THAT level ostentatiousness and keep a straight face.

I am glad we live in a world where such things can exist, but I wouldn't own one even if it were free.

[beachstartup]

people who drive around in cars like that don't have to keep a straight face. they're laughing all the way to the bank.

[ActsJuvenile]

Obviously; anyone with standards prefers cars designed by 16 years olds on cough syrup high.

[stcredzero]

Carbotanium is my favorite canobtanium.

I wonder what McLaren can achieve when it puts its mind to reducing production costs?

[bwilliams18]

They've said before that they have proprietary techniques that allow them to produce the CF for their road cars at scale more affordably.

[stcredzero]

Combine this with Tesla's acquisition of CF expertise, and I would wager that more CF is going to be used in electric vehicles in the near future, providing even greater range.

[msandford]

Bravo man, bravo.

[Fricken]

So long as money is no object, you're probably right.

Apple reportedly took great interest in BMWs carbon fibre mass production processes during the early stages of Project Titan, when Apple was rumoured to be courting BMW for a potential partnership.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/209812-how-bmw-weaves-bak...

I'm not sure what use Apple would potentially have for carbon fibre anything outside of mass production.

Edit:

http://jalopnik.com/apple-is-definitely-not-buying-mclaren-m...

[jonlucc]

Perhaps next year's iPhone. I've been thinking about how they can go to wireless charging without looking cheap. I think carbon fiber could be a decent replacement for the metal.

[twoodfin]

All the rumors so far point to a glass-backed body for the next iPhone.

And if they needed a partnership with McLaren for anything materials-related, I'd imagine it's too late for any product next year.

[foobarian]

CF is conductive last time I checked

[DannyBee]

Maybe. Note that these kinds of composites are exceedingly common these days.

Like "I can buy it online from amazon.com" common for some and "random online metals shop" for others.

Now certainly, not what Apple's gonna do, but more in the point of "there's a very very large set of companies with large amounts of expertise in this". I have pretty strong doubts you'd go to mclaren for it.

[artimaeis]

The same can be said for aluminum, but still Apple is known for doing some of the best work in the world with the material.

[rfrey]

Apple's cases are nice, but "the best work in the world with [aluminum]" is a real stretch. They're not complicated or high precision, they're computer cases.

There are people making turbines with aluminum, and medical equipment, and machine parts that are accurate to an order of magnitude more than Apple's pretty phone case.

[jonknee]

You can buy a lot of materials, but knowing how to manufacturer with them is a different skill. BMW has more experience with carbon in automobiles, but that's a whole other level of acquisition.

McLaren built an entire car out of carbon fiber. Good luck figuring that out from your Amazon purchases.

https://www.wired.com/2016/06/mclarens-675lt-supercar-someho...

[rccrv]

BMW, McLaren and friends probably simply buy all the carbon fiber they use from Toray. Just like Boeing do.

If McLaren has some production, it's probably not more than a pilot plant.

[jonknee]

It's not actually producing carbon fiber that is the secret sauce.

[tpm]

BMW co-owns a company called SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers.

[jdietrich]

Material availability isn't really the issue, although supply is still very constrained due to the dominance of the aerospace industry.

The real issue is expertise. High performance composite manufacturing techniques are jealously-guarded trade secrets. The amount of information in the public domain is really very limited.

[buro9]

I suspect this too. I remember a top notch cycling company that produced carbon components working with Apple too for the same reason.

My Google-fu failed me though, I could not find a reference to it and it was 5-7 years ago.

[jaziek]

I suspect this has to do with their battery expertise as much as anything else. If Apple is looking to get into the Electric car game, the McLaren would be an especially good acquisition.