£168,500. A lot of money. But significantly, £1,000 less than a Ferrari 458 Italia. With today's official announcement of the prices for McLaren's entry in the world of mass supercar manufacture, an interesting sales battle would appear to be underway.As always with pricing, one must dig further for the real picture. That £168,500 doesn't include registration fee or road licence – which adds around £1,000 to the figure – but it does include VAT at the full 20% from January next year.
If Ferrari passes on the VAT increase to its customers in 2011, then the McLaren could be up to £2,500 cheaper than its main rival. However, as Ferrari points out, the 458 comes with carbon ceramic brakes as standard. On the MP4-12C, they’re a £9,770 option. But frankly, at that end of the market, does anyone really care about a few grand either way? This is what Ron Dennis claims will be the fastest car money can buy, the "slightly more mass-market" successor to the mighty F1. Some numbers: the mid-engined 12C is powered by an all-new 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 with a dry sump and flat-plane crank. It produces 600bhp and 443lb ft of torque, 80 per cent of which is available from less than 2,000rpm. It will weigh just under 1,400kg (that's 200kg less than the new Audi RS3). That means a claimed 0-124mph time of less than 10 seconds, while a full speed of over 200mph seems fairly likely. Internal organs will be affected
