McLaren MP4-12C embarks on North American tour

[Plex]

Press Release

MP4-12C EMBARKS ON TOUR OF NEW McLAREN AUTOMOTIVE RETAILERS IN NORTH AMERICA

Following the successful North American debut of the McLaren MP4-12C at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, McLaren Automotive will begin a launch tour of its selected North America dealership locations. Prospective customers will have the opportunity to see the 12C in the metal and speak to the team responsible for groundbreaking newcomer.

A Supernova Silver 12C, Titanium Silver 12C and the XP13 rolling chassis were presented to over 1,000 guests at the Pebble Beach event by a McLaren Automotive team including Managing Director Antony Sheriff and Design Director Frank Stephenson. Visitors to the McLaren Automotive display included Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger and world-famous car collector, Jay Leno.

McLaren Automotive subsequently moved on to Beverly Hills and presented the 12C to prospective customers at its future McLaren Beverly Hills location on Wilshire Boulevard. On Thursday evening the dealership hosted a cocktail reception for approximately 300 guests followed by private viewings of the vehicle throughout the day on Friday and Saturday. Guests were able to get close to the 12C and the positive feedback from sports car owners in California can be seen in a short film entitled "McLaren MP4-12C: The North American Debut". This video can be viewed on McLaren Automotive's official You Tube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pPwXH7RqPw

On September 1st and 2nd the MP4-12C will be presented by Pfaff Automotive Partner, McLaren's retail partner in Toronto, Ontario. Thereafter, a team of McLaren Automotive experts will visit the following new members of the McLaren family with the 12C:

* McLaren Chicago: Lake Forest Sportscars
* McLaren Dallas: Park Place
* McLaren Greenwich (McLaren's representative in the New York Tri-State area): Miller Motorcars
* McLaren San Francisco: Price Family Dealerships
* McLaren Tampa Bay: Dew Luxury Motor Cars
* The Collection McLaren (representing the Miami market)

These dealerships will be eight of the initial ten launch retailers for the North American market. Two locations, Newport Beach in Orange County, and Philadelphia remain open but will be appointed in the coming weeks.

Tony Joseph, McLaren Automotive's Regional Director for North America said: "Each retailer on this tour will be registering customer interest in the 12C and it's clear from the feedback at the McLaren Beverly Hills event that our prospects in North America really understand our brand and are looking forward to the launch of McLaren Automotive."

"We look forward to delivering a great range of unique, innovative sports cars to customers in North America, with a network of McLaren Automotive retailers committed to delivering an ownership experience every bit as good and revolutionary as the 12C itself."

North American retailers will begin selling the 2012 McLaren MP4-12C from summer 2011 with a base MSRP within a range of between $225,000 and $250,000.

Worldcarfans

[Sheriff!]

So the wait is over. After 18 months of technological foreplay, the McLaren MP4-12C is finally here, and we've actually driven it.

Yes, we know it has an amazing carbon fibre chassis, a 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 that pumps out almost 600bhp and rockets the car to 62mph in a whisker over three seconds and on to a top speed of 205mph while also coughing out just 279g/km of CO2. And yes, we know that Ron Dennis insists that his amazing team of boffins and geniuses can scientifically prove that this is the greatest super sports car ever made. But what's it actually like?


Very, very, very good indeed. The 12C is quite simply an astonishing piece of engineering. It's beautifully made, has a cabin that immediately and brilliantly becomes an extension of the driver, an engine and transmission that have gone from being drawings on a clean sheet of paper to challenging Ferrari's best in barely five years, a radical rethink of how a car's suspension should work, an equally radical re-imagining of how a car should handle, and the sort of amazing high-speed aero properties you'd expect of something that was honed in the same state-of-the-art simulator that Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button's McLaren F1 car was optimised in.



Speaking of which, JB was on hand at the car's first media drive at the highly demanding Portimao circuit in Portugal's Algarve region. Now Jenson likes his supercars, and has owned most of the significant players of the past 10 years, Bugatti Veyron and Porsche Carrera GT included. In other words, though he's a McLaren employee, he's also a potential customer. And he knows what he likes. And not only does he know what he likes - big performance and a healthy degree of oversteer which, trust me, not all top F1 guys approve of - he's not afraid to enjoy himself when the mood takes him. As you can see from the accompanying short film below.

It was fun, it was fast, and it rearranged my hairstyle. (NB: no lunch was eaten before this was shot.)












TOPGEAR