McLaren to officially launch the MP4-12C at Goodwood

The launch at Goodwood will allow members of the public to have a close look at the car for the first time, with the MP4-12C only available to the media up to this point. McLaren will announce its first three dealerships, to be located in Birmingham, London and Manchester, which will begin selling the car from 2011, followed by another 35 cities around the world.

According to Antony Sheriff, McLaren Automotive's Managing Director, "British car enthusiasts are demanding; they enjoy and appreciate performance cars, and traditionally buy what's best - not necessarily what's British. Competing in this market will, therefore, be a major challenge for us as a new sports car company, but McLaren's brand and experience stand us in good stead: the McLaren F1 and SLR projects were perfect benchmarks that provide us with the expertise, commitment and confidence to design, develop and build the world's best performing and highest quality sports cars. We now have the ideal partners in the UK who have enormous experience in delivering extraordinary
customer service to help us deliver on those expectations."

The McLaren MP4-12C is powered by a twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 that produces 600bhp and 699Nm of torque. Mated to a seven-speed "Seamless Shift" double-clutch transmission, the supercar is able to go from 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds, and reach a top speed of 300km/h. McLaren only plans to build 1000 units of the MP4-12C, but has already received 2500 enquiries for the car.