MP12 Coupe will be joined by a Spider
MP12
range will definitely boast an open Spider version, but not until the company completes a new factory planned alongside its existing Woking Technical Centre.
Planning documents for the new factory clearly reveal an area marked Webasto RHT Sub Assembly Area, apparently a reference to the retractable hard-top that the Spider version will boast.
Factory sources have unofficially confirmed that the MP12 Spider will not have a fabric roof, instead offering the additional comfort and practicality of a hard folding roof in either aluminium or carbon fibre. And although Webasto is named as the supplier on the planning document, the company is one of several suppliers in the frame as McLaren develops the design.
Both to be built at a new factory in Woking
, the first batch of MP4s may have to be built at the company's existing Technical Centre, where it has been churning out the SLR model.
McLaren Automotive has just received planning permission for its new site - like the Technical Centre, another hi-tech edifice built partially underground - which gives it less than a year to get up and running if the first cars are to be delivered on schedule next November.