Ron Dennis reveals McLaren supercar details
Despite being 16 years old, the McLaren F1 is still cutting edge in performance terms
07 September 2009
The new McLaren supercar will be officially named the MP4-12C when it is revealed later this week.
Ron Dennis, who heads up McLaren Automotive, revealed details of the much-anticipated supercar – codenamed P11 – in an interview over the weekend.
The former head honcho of McLaren’s F1 team, who quit the sport earlier this year, has ambitious plans for the sports car manufacturer with the MP4-12C the first of three planned models.
He told The Sunday Times: “It’s an iconic design, like the E-Type Jaguar and, on all performance parameters and price, will be better than our competition.”
It was revealed the MP4-12C will use a high-revving V8 engine, seven-speed gearbox, carbon fibre chassis and an automatic variable rate chassis.
“We’re building more than a car, we’re building a brand,” said Dennis with McLaren Automotive planning a Porsche 911 and Audi R8-rivalling £70k supercar along with a top-end £300k-plus hypercar to rival the Porsche Carrera GT.
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Ignoring the Mercedes McLaren SLR, the MP4-12C will be the first new McLaren since the fabled F1 of the Nineties – a car still heralded by many purists as the ultimate supercar.
Auto Trader is sworn to secrecy at the moment over the full official details of the MP4-12C until Wednesday.
But suffice to say you should be quite excited about this two-seat gull-winged supercar which should give those considering the new Ferrari 458 Italia something serious to think about.
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