McLaren MP4-12C sold out until 2014

McLaren MP4-12C - you'll have to wait 'til 2014 to get one.

It was always likely that the McLaren MP4-12C would be a popular buy. Especially with the promise of F1 fairy dust sprinkled over the first new road car from McLaren in almost a generation.

And a ‘cheap’ McLaren at that. Well, cheap by the previous McLaren standards, where their last road car – the McLaren F1 – cost a mighty £650k when it launched in the early ’90s.

In contrast, the McLaren MP4-12C costs just £168k. And it’s actually quicker than its iconic predecessor, which shows how far car technology has come in the last two decades.

And unlike the F1, the MP4-12C is a regular production car with something approaching ‘mass’ production, at least by McLaren standards. But McLaren are still being conservative with the numbers they produce. First year production is limited to around 1,000 cars and McLaren will only ‘look’ at increasing that level next year.

Good news for those fortunate enough to have an allocation for the new McLaren, because it looks likely that the limited supply will make residuals exceptional. Which is no doubt the plan.

But McLaren has perhaps limited supply a bit too much if we are to believe their Regional Director for the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Ian Gorsuch, who told Asia One:

“We are looking at sustainable production. We want to produce less cars than the competition. The key is making the dealership profitable. We will produce less cars but the dealers must have more cars than the competition because the long-term goal is profitability.”

A very sensible and pragmatic approach, and one that will make other supercar dealers green with envy. But the throttling of production has, according to Gorsuch, already been so successful that the MP4-12C is sold out until 2014.

Ian doesn’t appear to have clarified whether the MP4-12C is sold out to customers until 2014, or whether dealers have committed to three years of production. We favour the latter, and expect that McLaren will ramp up production somewhat next year, keeping demand ahead of supply but making the waiting more sensible.

Which is something they will have to do, because buyers with pockets deep enough to buy an MP4-12C will not be patient people. If the waiting list is too long they will go and buy something else, no matter how desirable the MP4-12C is. So a better balance than a three year wait will be neded soon.

Increasing production will be even more important with a plan to enter the Chinese market in 2013. So far McLaren don’t have a dealer in what is now the world’s most important car market, but plans to enter that market will in itself mean increasing production by a sizeable margin.

And all this with two more McLarens still to come in the next few years - the new McLaren F1 and the entry-level Mclaren to take on the Porsche 911 and the Audi R8.

The future’s bright. The future’s Papaya.

By Cars UK