McLaren MP4-12C: The build begins +video

First McLaren MP4-12C being built

You could be forgiven for thinking that McLaren had already started building their Ferrari 458 challenging car – the McLaren MP4-12C.

After all, it’s been turning up all over the place for at least a year, and we even had a good view of the Volcano Orange MP4-12C from Goodwood as it passed us en-route to strut its stuff up the Goodwood Hillclimb last year.

But the cars we’ve seen so far – even the Volcano Orange MP4-12C from Goodwood – were prototypes; McLaren’s running test beds for tweaking and refining the MP4-12C before the first cars reach customers this year.

But now the build begins in earnest, as McLaren has promised we’ll see 1,000 MP4-12Cs delivered in 2011. The plan is to build the MP4-12C in the new, state-of-the-art McLaren Production Centre, located next door to the McLaren Technology Centre.

But the McLaren Production Centre won’t be completed for a month or two yet, so the first few MP4-12Cs – such as MP4-12C Chassis ’01′ seen in the photos here – are being bolted together in the area of the McLaren Technology Centre that built the SLR.

To celebrate the build starting on the first of the MP4-12Cs, McLaren has put together a McLaren MP4-12C – The Highlights 2010′, video for your delight and delectation.

Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4e9v9hb3pg

By Cars UK