McLaren 12C History

The MP4-12C marked McLaren's return to road-car production for the first time since the F1 ceased in 1998. Built from February 2011 to April 2014, it was the first car designed and built by the new McLaren Automotive, founded around its carbon-fibre 'MonoCell' tub and the in-house 3.8-litre M838T twin-turbocharged V8. More than 3,400 were produced.

In 2012 McLaren dropped the 'MP4' prefix, simplifying the name to '12C', and added the 12C Spider — a retractable-hardtop convertible — in July 2012. The 12C established the engineering template (carbon tub, twin-turbo V8, adaptive hydraulic suspension) that underpinned McLaren's road cars for the next decade.