McLaren is set to redefine ‘supercar’ with the new MP4-12C, which has just finished its extensive and exhausting tests and is preparing for its market launch later this year. They’ve just confirmed the car’s performance data. It gives Ferrari 458 Italia plenty of reasons to be worried!

McLaren engineers focused on lightweight materials to arrive at the best compromise between performance and efficiency. They’ve used 30 years of carbon composite chassis design at McLaren to create the 12C’s revolutionary carbon MonoCell and also benefited from innovative Formula 1-inspired technologies and development programmes.

As a result the MP4 has lowest CO₂ output and best fuel consumption in this class along with highest power to weight ratio and highest power with fastest acceleration and braking across all typical benchmark speed and distance parameters. McLaren also wanted the MP4 to be a fabulous car for day to day driving so it also excels at comfort, practicality, driveability, and ownership costs.

And now to the figures we’ve all been waiting for:

• 0 – 200kph in 9.1s (8.9s on optional Corsa tyres)
• CO₂ emissions of 279g/km (equating to 24.2 EU mpg combined)
• 0 – 100kph in 3.3s (3.1s with optional Corsa tyres)
• top speed: 330kph (205mph)
• 100 – 0 kph in 30.5 m (100 ft)
• ¼ mile: 10.9s @ 135 mph
• dry weight (with lightweight options): 1301kgs / 2868 lbs
• carbon MonoCell chassis weight:  75kgs / 165 lbs
• power: weight (lightweight options): 461PS / 455bhp per tonne.
• power: 600PS (592bhp) at 7,000 rpm
• torque: 600Nm between 3,000 – 7,000 rpm

McLaren MP4-12C performance data

All figures apply to a European specification MP4-12C

The 12C’s performance is clearly influenced by the McLaren F1 and Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren road car projects. Most notably, in the competitive step-changes seen on the 12C through carbon composite engineering, packaging, and aerodynamics. But the development and manufacturing teams are also peppered with technicians and engineers from iconic periods in McLaren’s motor racing history: people with priceless experience in challenging design target-setting and innovative engineering problem-solving. And with an inherent ambition to win.

To name but three: Jim Chisman, a McLaren Automotive senior technician was a technician on Niki Lauda’s race team and on the 1981 MP4/1 Formula 1 car; Metin Afiya, General Assembly Production Manager, was an engineer on the Le Mans-winning F1 GTR; Dick Glover, Technical Director at McLaren Automotive, enjoyed 12 years in McLaren Racing where he designed the Formula 1 simulator that has also been used in the 12C development programme.

Dick Glover said: “We’re intensely proud of the 12C and how it stands against its key competitors: cars that are, in their own rights, some of the best sports cars the world has ever seen. The really exciting challenge for us was that to set new performance benchmarks against these cars, we had to introduce innovative new technologies. In that respect, we have worked technically like a Formula 1 team, where you are constantly trying to improve performance not against fixed parameters, but to win against competitors who are also constantly developing and improving.

“The 12C is a huge technical accomplishment, but also a car filled with the passion and dedication that comes with working at McLaren. I am very proud of the team behind its development,” he concluded.

Starting from a clean sheet of paper, the 12C is the first ‘pure McLaren’. From its conception, the 12C has been designed around the driver with a carbon chassis. Every one of the 12C’s components is bespoke, and there to either enhance performance or contribute to the unmatched driving experience.