McLaren MP4-12C Images Surface

The return of McLaren is here! For quite some time now we've known about a reborn McLaren that was spunoff from the main motorsports operations. A direct full-line British sportscar competitor for Ferrari and Lamborghini, if you will. The cars went under internal names P8 and P11 - now the first has surfaced, wearing an entirely different name.

The name - MP4-12C is about as memorable as the car. Color be underwhelmed. Of course the McLaren MP4-12C has the ingredients to be a supercar: mid-engined design, twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 engine making around 600 horsepower and 433 lb-ft of torque.

McLaren says has the highest horsepower to CO2 ratio of any internal combustion engine on the market. Interesting, but I have a feeling that isn't going to exactly be the deal closer in this segment. On that note, do supercar buyers cross shop? I doubt it.

Stylistically, the McLaren MP4-12 is quite plain - there are no unique styling elements that set it apart and define it as a McLaren. A generic supercar, if you will! I actually quite like the inside though, with the thin, upward swept control areas and single round vents at each. Gone is the central driving position that the McLaren F1 had.

I do like the design but overall I'm unimpressed, with competition being amazing, beautiful vehicles like the Ferrari 458 Italia and Lamborghini Gallardo. Each of those create an emotional reaction whereas the MPR-12C does not.

What's worse, the car's main trump card - it's body panels are made of carbon fiber and composites, results in the car being much more expensive than it's competition. Coming in at around $265k, it would make the MP4-12C more expensive than either one of those two - not a great starting business position at this point.

McLaren plans on the economy rebounding and selling 1000 units of the MP4-12C worldwide per year. Will they be able to make that number? We'll see, but in a contest between this and it's Italian competition, I'm pretty sure which one I would go for.