In the course of its life, there were a few models of the SLR that were offered, the coupe, the roadster plus the 722 editions of those two body styles which had more power. However, at the end of its production life, Mercedes-Benz and McLaren brought out a final version of this car called the SLR Stirling Moss edition (named after the famed racing driver who won the Mille Miglia race in 1955 in the original 300SLR).

A supercar needs a super watch, and that’s why McLaren has partnered with Swiss luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer to bring us the special edition MP4-12C Chronograph.

McLaren has finally announced a price tag for their MP4-12C supercar, and you’ll have to fork over $229,000 to get behind the wheel of Woking’s latest creation. The MP4-12C also beats the Ferrari F430 on price, coming it at a few thousand dollars more, but manages to undercut the Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4.The MP4-12C will net you a 3.8L V8 twin turbo powerplant, throwing out 600-hp and 433 ft-lbs of torque also trumps its Italian rivals on power, while the prestige of the McLaren name is arguably just as strong, trading on the reputation of the McLaren F1 uber-car.Hopefully if you were one of those interested when McLaren first announced the vehicle, you’re already on a waiting list. If not, chances are you may be twiddling your thumbs waiting for them to announce their 2013 pricing. Worth noting is that the price tag of $229,000 does not include any extras. McLaren has stressed that they’re willing to offer accessory upgrades to the vehicle from mild to wild – new wheels to custom paint, and at the launch event in Toronto, we saw all kinds of add-ons, like GoPro cameras to record your track day exploits to multimedia options and fancy brake packages.

McLaren previewed what a race-ready version of their MP4-12C sports car will look like, when a small batch of GT3 class cars goes on sale in time for the 2012 FIA GT3 Series in Europe.

When Mercedes rolled out the SLR Stirling Moss edition at the Detroit Auto Show a few years back, we thought perhaps the onslaught of special edition versions of the overpriced and over-hyped supercar had finally come to an end. At least that’s what Mercedes would have had us believe, especially with the McLaren/Mercedes partnership coming to a tumultuous end.

McLaren has, however, just announced a new aftermarket kit for the car, debuting it at the recent Essen Motor Show in Germany. The package consists of new aerodynamics, an upgraded suspension, interior improvements and revised steering – easily the car’s biggest fault.

Just 25 kits will be offered by McLaren and while we really do wish they’d stop with the special editions, perhaps this McLaren kit will remove much of the diluting Mercedes did with what could have been a car more worthy of the ‘supercar’ name.

[Source: Autoblog Germany]

See video of the car after the jump:

The McLaren MP4-12C will go on sale in the UK with a base price of £168,500, narrowly undercutting the Ferrari 458 Italia by £1,045. But due to new UK tax laws, the McLaren’s “on the road” price, including taxes and registration, will actually be £5 more than the 458 Italia.

What kind of security system do you think you’d need for the Mercedes McLaren SLR that’s adorned with 5 kg (roughly 11 lbs) of gold and 600 rubies? We’re thinking its own posse of guards and an invisible force field might keep the car jackers at bay.

While it’s been assumed for quite some time now, McLaren’s M4-12C supercar will be hitting the racetrack in 2012. McLaren already has plans of releasing the M4-12C for sale next year, and with the aid of British CRS Racing will be unleashing a GT3 variant in 2012 with a GT2 version in 2013 (that could be racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans).

McLaren is believed to be developing a hybrid setup for use in future versions of its high-powered exotic sports cars. The revelation is the result of an ad posted by the British automaker looking for an electrical engineer who will work on the, “concept, design and development of the electrical package and wiring system for a hybrid electric vehicle.”

Aiming for a total production volume of 4,500 units, McLaren will introduce one new model (or a version of an existing model) per year for the next five years. McLaren North American chief Tony Joseph laid out the British automaker’s plans at a sit down lunch in Toronto, Canada – the first stop of a 10 city dealer tour in North America and the only one in Canada.

As though the twin-turbocharged 592-hp carbon-chassis MP4-12C couldn’t get any cooler, McLaren has revealed that it will offer an optional Hero Cam setup in its new exotic.

It may be on the Concept Lawn at Pebble Beach, but the McLaren MP4-12C is not a hypothetical model – even if it’s named like one. One of very few carbon chassis vehicles in the world (a list which also includes the Lexus LFA, displayed directly next to the MP4-12C at Pebble Beach), this new McLaren model was not designed to be the supercar performer that the McLaren F1 was, but rather a usable exotic that will rival, and possible beat, the Ferrari 458 Italia in all categories.

Fifteen years old is a rough age for a car. Most cars are just about bottomed out in terms of value around this age, even such “normal” supercars as the Ferrari F50, First-gen Zonda, and Lamborghini Diablo, all of which can be had for around half of their original asking prices. But what about the McLaren F1? The former record-holder for the fastest production car in the world doesn’t go down in value without a fight. In fact, it doesn’t go down in value at all. This particular example, #62, was purchased new in California by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, for the paltry sum of $1.4 million. Fifteen years later, when Gooding and Co. puts the F1 on the auction block at Pebble Beach (that’s 2 weeks, people), this F1 is expected to draw between $2.5 and $3.5 Million.

This doesn’t surprise us at all, since the F1 is pretty much right at the top of every car guy’s list of dream cars. But with only 74 roadgoing examples ever produced, the odds of seeing one in person, let along driving or owning one, are hovering between “snowball’s chance in hell” and “peace in the middle east.” Demand will forever outweigh supply for a car like this, and they change hands so rarely, it almost always makes news when an F1 finds a new home. Hit the jump to check out the official press release and some high-resolution images of Larry Ellison’s McLaren F1.

McLaren’s upcoming MP4-12C supercar has attracted roughly 2700 expressions of interest from prospective buyers, enough to fill two years worth of production.

Having already announced it’s new MP4-12C exotic and setting up a worldwide dealer network, McLaren is now planning a successor to its F1 supercar, reports AutoCar. When the McLaren F1 debuted back in 1992 it created a new standard for performance vehicles and set a top speed record that stood for over a decade until the launch of the Bugatti Veyron in 2006.

For those of us who couldn’t attend the Goodwood Festival Of Speed, don’t fret, because we’ve managed to compile all of the best videos into one handy post. All of them feature some kind of pricey sports car running up the hill at Lord March’s Estate. Sit back, turn up your speakers, and enjoy. There’s a surprise at the very end as well.

Hit the jump to view the videos

The last time McLarens were sold in North America (not counting the Mercedes McLaren SLR, of course), a company called Ameritech was importing the McLaren F1 on the sly.

McLaren’s MP4-12C is the company’s first road-going 2-seater car. No, really. The British racing firm’s first effort, the McLaren F1, was famously equipped with a 3-seater configuration, with a drivers seat mounted in the center, and two bucket seats mounted on either side. A famous saying (sometimes attributed to F1 designed Gordon Murray) is that the 3-seater existed so that there was one seat for your wife, and one for your mistress.

Once a fixture of only the most expensive Formula 1 race cars, carbon fiber monocoques have now filtered down into the slightly more accesible world of supercars, and McLaren  is leading the charge, after announcing plans to build two more carbon-monocoque supercars after the MP4-12C.

The Bugatti Veyron might be faster, the Pagani Zonda more eye-catching and the Ferrari Enzo more extravagant. Nevertheless, the McLaren F1 is still regarded by most enthusiasts as the greatest car ever made, bar none. The F1 was the physical manifestation of the dreams of Gordon Murray, a savant engineer whose personal quirks ingrained in the car’s design. There’s no radio, because Murray hated listening to the radio, but there’ is a top-notch hi-fi for your own music. The engine was a BMW V12 that had more in common with an F1 engine than the opulent 12-cylinders that powered the 750iL and 850i luxo-barges. The driver sat in the middle of the car, and the engine was lined with gold, for better heat dissipation.

Even after the legendary McLaren F1 was out of production, McLaren maintained a single showroom on London’s Park Lane. The location was hardly a showroom at all, with a single McLaren F1 located behind a window that faced onto the busy thoroughfare, so passerby’s could gawk in wonderment at the million dollar machine.

With McLaren’s MP4-12C set to launch as a much more accesible vehicle (in relative terms), McLaren found itself in need of a distribution channel, and has been courting a potential sales force for nearly a year. Now, they’ve finally announced where they’ll be slinging their supercars. North America will get 10 outlets, with Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Tampa as the U.S. locations, and Toronto as the sole Canadian outlet. Elsewhere, familiar hotspots like Paris, Dubai, Tokyo, London and Milan will get showrooms, as will other financial and cultural capitals scattered around the world. McLaren expects to produce 1,000 cars per year, but has already received pre-orders for over twice that number.

[Source:   TopSpeed]

Hit the jump to read McLaren’s official press release