While McLaren has a long history in Formula 1, it could hardly become a start-up supercar roadgoing business if it were to rely on just one model. The McLaren MP4-12C has a lot going for it and will only become the starting point for future McLaren models and variants.
According to MotorTrend, the “new” British supercar business will work on a three-tier model of which the MP4-12C represents the middle tier. It’s to compete with the Ferrari 458 Italia, mostly, and also the Lamborghini Gallardo. An MP4-12C Spider will be in the future range, and above is a rendering of what that might look like.
Moving up a tier the MP4-12C (or P11), becomes the McLaren hypercar P12 to compete with the new Lamborghini Aventador, for example. It will probably represent the closest roadgoing model to McLaren’s Formula 1 efforts and will be the benchmark McLaren model in the future, having about 800 hp as an initial rough estimate.
Going back down a couple of notches, the entry-level McLaren tier will be the P13 and it will obviously be McLaren’s swipe at the Porsche 911 (but a non-turbo alternative). Future development plans including the use of carbon, and keeping best performance principles at heart.
Obviously we’re talking some serious investment and R&D, but in the future the new McLaren factory will have a capacity to produce 4,000 units a year, making the future business plan feasible. What’s more, when that 4,000 figure is spread out across the three tiers, McLaren is making a firm bid to emulate Ferrari’s practice of always making less than what will meet demand.
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