Formula One powerhouse McLaren secretly has begun work on a replacement for its legendary F1 supercar, while it also gears up to become a mainstream sports-car maker.

McLaren's Technology Center in Woking, England, has been building just 100 McLaren SLR supercars a year for Mercedes-Benz, but McLaren boss Ron Dennis reportedly has his sights set on producing 1,000 of its upcoming Ferrari F430-fighting P11s a year starting in 2011. The number, Dennis said, will rise to 4,000 cars by mid-decade as future models such as the Porsche 911-challenging P8 come on line.

At the top of those future models, according to McLaren Automotive Design director Frank Stephenson, will be an all-new version of the F1, the 240-mph exotic that rewrote the supercar rules when it arrived in 1992.

In an informal interview at the Geneva motor show, Stephenson said he is sketching ideas to replace the legendary Peter Stevens-styled F1. So, while spy photographers have been busy snapping pictures of P11 prototypes, Stephenson has moved on to the challenge of replacing one of the most revered cars in automotive history.

"For the F1 replacement, there are not the restrictions on us, like with P11," Stephenson said. "I am looking at a clean sheet of paper for the F1 replacement, and we are still trying to see what directions we want it to go in, in terms of its design.

"This one will be my influence from start to finish."

Stephenson, who led design for BMW's first Mini, the original BMW X5, the reborn Fiat 500 and the Maserati MC12, said that McLaren has more road cars to come.

"The P11 is the building block for the whole of the McLaren automotive range," he said. "It's really a Ferrari F430 competitor, and there's plenty of room above that."

In spite of its glittering engineering reputation, though, McLaren's automotive division has yet to achieve a commercial success. The original F1 never sold in the numbers McLaren had hoped. Its last project, the Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR, was equally stunning, but Mercedes has chosen to use its in-house AMG performance division to design and engineer replacements, including the 2011 gullwinged SLS.

With the P8, the P11 and the next F1, McLaren has a chance to change all of that.

McLaren launches supercar

Best pictures yet of F1 team's all-new Ferrari F430-rivalling supercar

Auto Express Car Reviews
Text: Sam Hardy / Photos: www.beyond-form.com
17th April 2009

Feast your eyes – these are the best images yet of McLaren's new supercar, the P11. The first solely-developed machine since the legendary F1, it will not only set new standards for performance, but will also be the most eco-friendly in its class. Those were the exciting claims made at an exclusive unveiling of the new Ferrari F430 rival at McLaren’s base in Woking, Surrey, which Auto Express attended recently.

Although no official images of the newcomer were made available, the new model looks almost identical to Auto Express’s illustrations shown here, adding a number of louvres to the front and rear bumpers, a pop-up rear wing and projector-style headlights.

Going on sale in 2011, the P11 will cost around £150,000 and boast technology from the company’s Formula One cars, including the very latest lightweight carbonfibre materials. It will be the first model to come from a new independent company, called McLaren Automotive, which will be headed up by Ron Dennis – who has stepped down as team principal of McLaren’s F1 operation – and managing director Antony Sheriff.

Dennis said the P11 would be “the most environmentally friendly car of its type” and although he wouldn’t elaborate, it’s expected to feature a KERS-style system, similar to that of the company’s Formula One cars, which captures heat energy from braking, boosting the engine’s power. Dennis also said the P11 will set new standards for safety too.

Other technical details are thin on the ground at present, but the P11 is expected to use a Mercedes AMG-sourced 6.2-litre V8 engine and get carbon ceramic brakes. Some 1,000 models will be built in the first year of production, with a spiritual successor to the original F1 and an entry-level sub-£100,000 model completing the range and taking the company’s output to 4,000 cars by 2015.

Production will take place at a new factory – likely to be based within the grounds of McLaren’s Norman Foster-designed Technology Centre in Woking – with the new company generating 800 new jobs. Dennis said that he expected the new venture to double the value of the McLaren Group. The P11 is expected to make its worldwide debut at the Los Angeles Motor Show in November.