McLaren To Launch Commercial Sports Cars Soon  McLaren Car |
Formula One car maker McLaren has unveiled plans to build a range of commercial sports cars to compete with other high-end European manufacturers like Ferrari and Porsche on the racing tracks.
McLaren is banking on its first offering, the MP4-12C, which will go on sale in late 2011 with a price range of £125,000 and £150,000 ($207,434-$248,921).
"Following any recession, there's a resurgence," McLaren Automotive Chairman Ron Dennis said.
"We intend to catch that wave," he said.
The new Mclaren MP4-12C road car was unveiled at the Mclaren Technology Centre in Woking, England.
"Our volumes are very much linked to how we see the recovery," he added.
The company has targeted to sell up to 1000 12C cars next year, with up to 40% being sold in North America alone.
The other cars that will compete with the Mclaren MP4-12C include Ferrari 458 Italia, and Mercedes SLS AMG. Ferrari 458 Italia is priced at around £170,000 ($A282,110) whereas the latter is available at around £145,000 ($A240,624).
McLaren has planned to invest around £40 million ($66.38 million) in its production facility at south of London.
"At a time when the UK is rebalancing the economy away from the past two decades' over-concentration on financial services, we stand alongside other high-tech manufacturing and engineering companies, committed to securing Britain's global leadership, and securing a sustainable economic future," Dennis said.
This is the first time the company has made its own vehicle in the ‘core sports car’ segment in the range of £125,000- £200,000 ($207,435-$331,895).
McLaren built its first road car, the McLaren F1, 15 years ago which was a racing car. Some of them were road cars too.
According to the company, the MP4-12C would be based on the MonoCell structure, making it the first road car to be offered with a lightweight one-piece carbon-fibre structure.
The MP4-12C has been test-driven earlier this month by Formula One world champion Jenson Button and his McLaren partner Lewis Hamilton.
