McLaren Automotive’s first major milestone of 2011 as MP4-12C enters production
* First McLaren MP4-12C (‘Chassis 01’) production car takes shape in McLaren Technology Centre
* 2011 milestone announced with a new high quality ‘best of’ short film capturing highlights of the 2010 12C launch programme: available to view at www.youtube.com/mclarenautomotivetv
WOKING, UK (02 February) – Following a successful public world debut at Goodwood Festival of Speed, and a series of exclusive presentations to prospective customers and media across the globe in 2010, the first McLaren MP4-12C high-performance sports car has begun production at the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) in Woking, England.
McLaren Automotive plans to build up to 1,000 12Cs in 2011. Most will be manufactured in a bespoke new £40m McLaren Production Centre, which is due for completion in May on a site adjacent to MTC. However, ‘Chassis 01’ is being built in the existing MTC production facility, where outstanding quality and highly efficient production methods have been fine-tuned since the Foster + Partners-designed building opened in 2004.
The innovative 12C was first presented to the public at the famous Goodwood Festival of Speed in southern England in July 2010, prior to a North American debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August. 12Cs were then presented at exclusive events to prospective customers and media around the world as McLaren Automotive toured many of the cities that will form a network of 35 retailer launch locations.
Milestone events in the 2010 launch year for the 12C have been captured in a new short film, which can be viewed online at McLaren Automotive’s official You Tube channel: www.youtube.com/mclarenautomotivetv
This short film features appearances from Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, the 2008 and 2009 FIA Formula 1 Drivers’ World Champions. Both have enjoyed testing prototype 12Cs and continue to feed back their thoughts on the car’s development. The video also captures visitors’ reactions to the 12C at its debut events. Brand new footage reveals McLaren Automotive’s Chief Test Driver Chris Goodwin taking the car winter testing at Dunsfold Aerodrome – also known as the BBC Top Gear test track – as he assesses ESP calibration on Winter settings as part of the 12C’s variable Proactive Chassis Control system.
“In five years, the MP4-12C has evolved from a concept we developed in our own Formula 1 simulator, to a groundbreaking high-performance sports car offering unique technologies and outstanding dynamic performance. It has been an intensive development programme, but now the fun really begins as our future owners look forward to taking delivery of their 12Cs.
“Feedback from our customers shows they understand McLaren Automotive is as committed to delivering a high quality sports cars and a fantastic ownership experience as a our Formula 1 team is to winning races. With ‘Chassis One’ now in production, our new network of 35 retailers in 19 countries worldwide is ready to deliver on this promise.”
McLaren Automotive is an independent company, chaired by Ron Dennis, and based at the McLaren Technology Centre, the McLaren Group’s headquarters in Surrey. McLaren Automotive has a rich and seamless heritage in producing premium sports cars for the road: the McLaren F1 road car, which was launched in 1992, set the world land speed record for a production car, and is regarded as one of the best examples of supercar exotica. The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is the most successful supercar ever in its price bracket, having sold twice as many cars as its nearest carbon-based rival. McLaren Automotive is now launching a new car company through a global network of highly regarded premium car retailers who will sell a full range of McLaren high-performance sports cars built at an advanced new manufacturing facility, the McLaren Production Centre. McLaren Automotive’s debut model is the MP4-12C. Drawing on the company’s long-standing Formula 1 experience in its concept and development, the 12C will be lighter, more powerful, more fuel efficient and more exclusive than its key competition. It will achieve its performance benchmarks by introducing a unique one-piece moulded carbon chassis into the ‘core’ sports car segment in a new production method that brings the performance of £500,000 cars to market at a third of the price. All McLarens will be based on this innovative carbon technology; McLaren has not built a racing or road car on anything other than a carbon chassis in 30 years.
Carbon pioneers
McLaren is a carbon pioneer. In 1981 McLaren Racing introduced the carbon monocoque to Formula 1: it offered an unbeatable combination of strength and lightness. The monocoque had an immediate dynamic impact, with John Watson winning that year at Silverstone, and also proved a very effective safety cell when Watson walked away from a dramatic high-speed crash at Monza. Within just a few years, every other Formula 1 team on the grid had followed suit.The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team will compete in 2011 with McLaren’s 200th carbon fibre chassis.
The legendary McLaren F1 sports car was the first road car to feature a carbon chassis when it launched in 1993. Two years on, a McLaren F1 entered the famous Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race and won on its debut. F1s also finished 3rd, 4th and 5th. From 2003-09, McLaren worked in partnership with Mercedes-Benz to produce the carbon-based Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. With 2,153 SLRs manufactured in its seven year production run, the SLR is the most successful car in the£300,000+ price-point and the most successful of any car built on a carbon chassis.
Now, the McLaren MP4-12C takes carbon innovation to a new level. And offers a design and production process that could see the benefits of carbon fibre chassis’ cascaded down to even more affordable cars.
No comments:
Post a Comment