British supercar manufacturer McLaren has temporarily stopped production of both the coupe and convertible variants of the MP4-12C in order to focus its resources on successfully launching the new 650S. The decision comes as a surprise because McLaren initially explained the 650S would be sold alongside the MP4-12C as a more powerful alternative.
“There’s an element of customers wanting the newest and best,” explained Richard Molyneux, McLaren’s chief financial officer. “The 650S is partly a reaction to that, and our partly down to our own learning. There’s no point learning lessons like the big OEMs and then waiting six years to put them on a new model,” he added.
McLaren believes the 650S will quickly become its most popular model in spite of a lofty base price of £195,000 (about $324,000), £20,000 (roughly $33,000) more than the 12C it is all but replacing.
Molyneux remained coy about what the future holds for the 12C. While it is still officially part of the McLaren lineup, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it phased out over the next couple of months in order to make room for an upcoming entry-level model called P13 internally.
Once little more than a boutique automaker, McLaren is trying hard to break into the supercar mainstream by expanding its lineup at a rapid-fire pace and growing its dealer network all around the world. Late last year, the company announced it is planning on opening five new North American showrooms in 2014, bumping its global dealer count to 55.