McLAREN MP4-12C To be Launched

The McLaren MP4-12C, the first in a range of high-performance sports cars from McLaren Automotive, goes on sale in the UK and Europe in spring 2011 at a groundbreaking price for a carbon chassis-based car. At £168,500* in the UK, and from €200,000 in the EU, it will be the only car in its competitor set to:

* offer a carbon chassis (the MonoCell)
* be conceived, designed and developed within a Formula 1 factory
* offer the heady combination of 600PS, from a 3.8-litre engine producing less than 300g/km CO2 in a car with a dry weight of around 1300kgs

Antony Sheriff, Managing Director of McLaren Automotive said: “When we embarked on this challenge to design, develop, build, sell, and service the world’s most exciting and high-quality high-performance sports cars - from a brand new factory at our Formula One headquarters - we knew expectations would be high. To deliver a true McLaren sports car, and, frankly, a reason to exist amongst great competition, it was clear we needed a unique concept that offered tangible advantages. With a unique carbon chassis as the foundation, and a powerful, but highly efficient McLaren engine at its heart, the 12C offers staggering value: no other carbon-based car can compete at this price-point, or with the 12C’s technology and performance.

“Add to that a focus on ensuring that our customers will be offered spectacular care by a focused, financially strong global dealer network, and I believe we have launched a new type of car company, not just a new car. Announcing such competitive prices is a major step for us and another milestone achieved,” Sheriff concluded.

The 12C’s MonoCell introduces genuine innovation to the automotive industry and new performance standards below £200,000. It is ‘pure’ McLaren, with all parts, from engine to switchgear, designed by McLaren.

The 12C can be specified with a wide range of personalisation options, pricing for which will be confirmed at launch. There are 17 high-grade exterior paint finishes, including ‘McLaren Orange’ - a solid hue that was made famous by the McLaren racing cars of the 1960s and ʼ70s.

A choice of 14 interior trims can be specified inside the cabin. Performance upgrades include a sports exhaust system, carbon ceramic brake discs, polished-finish callipers and two lightweight forged wheel options. The ‘standard’ 12C features just one piece of carbon – the MonoCell – but carbon fibre options will include mirror casings, engine bay panels and engine cover.

McLaren introduced a carbon monocoque to motorsport in the 1981 MP4/1 Formula 1 car. In 1993, the McLaren F1 debuted a carbon chassis on a road car. In 2009, the last of over 2,200 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLarens was produced at the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC); the best-selling carbon-based car ever. Now McLaren’s expertise in working with this lightweight and strong material has led to the industrialisation of carbon chassis construction: where production of one McLaren F1 carbon chassis took thousands of man hours, each 12C MonoCell will be moulded in less than four hours. This step-change in manufacturing makes this technology available to sports car buyers in a new segment, and McLaren Automotive is committed to building all of its future cars around a carbon chassis.

The 12C is the first ‘pure McLaren’ road car, with every one of its components designed specifically for the 12C. No compromise has been taken in developing the 12C. An intelligent design philosophy means performance is delivered in abundance, but not at the expense of efficiency: nearly 600 hp at less than 300 g/km CO2 are unprecedented statistics. The MonoCell also contributes to a spacious driver-focused interior that defies the 12C’s compact exterior dimensions.

Designed, engineered, developed and manufactured by a team featuring extensive experience in McLaren’s racing successes, up to 1,000 12Cs will be built in the car’s first full year. A £40m manufacturing plant, the McLaren Production Centre (MPC), is currently under construction on a site adjacent to the MTC and will be fully operational by the middle of 2011. The future range of around 4,000 high-performance McLaren sports cars will all be built annually at MPC.

Credits: wilswong