End of the line for McLaren 12C

BRITISH company McLaren has axed the three-year old 12C from its supercar stable and will focus its limited production resources on the newer and faster 650S spin-off.

The decision, announced in a letter to owners, comes a month after the 650S was revealed at the Geneva motor show. The move to consolidate its line-up to the 650S and the P1 hypercar was immediately predicted, but until now has been unconfirmed.

Now on-sale in Australia from $441,500 plus on-road costs, the 650S is mechanically very similar the outgoing $398,000 12C, with 75 per cent shared components, so offering both models in parallel was a decision not widely understood by many observers.

Production of the 12C had been temporarily halted at McLaren’s boutique factory to free up limited resources for the newer model. The decision to cease production form good was made “in light of the success of 650S”.

The company has already amassed a six-month order bank for the new addition.

Left: McLaren 650S

But in an act of generosity, McLaren is attempting to appease any 12C owners who may be dissatisfied to hear of the discontinuation, by offering a free ‘Technology Upgrade’.

The update brings the outgoing model’s performance closer to its new sibling, with modifications to the ‘Active Aero’ system to improve high-speed braking as well as tweaks to the IRIS vehicle systems.

For a little extra cash McLaren will also retro-fit a new reverse-camera option and digital radio.

Around 3500 examples of the 12C rolled out of the Woking factory over its three-year production run, with just over 50 of those registered in Australia.

The 650S betters the outgoing 12C’s performance with 478kW and getting to 100km/h in 3.0 seconds, compared to the 441kW and 3.3 seconds of the latter.

In addition to the entry level coupe, a Spider variant of the 650S is also on sale at $486,250 to replace the outgoing $441,780 12C Spider.