McLaren’s has big plans for the future

The McLaren P11 was shown at a press event in the U.K. last week. Unfortunately no photos were allowed, but Autocar was able to confirm hat we already suspected. When the car arrives around 2011 it will be powered by a reworked Mercedes V8 and will carry many design elements of the McLaren F1.

The real shocker from the event was McLaren’s ambition for the future. The British firm wants to make about 4,000 examples of the P11 annually, and the supercar firm doesn’t plan to move this amount of cars through budget pricing. Antony Sheriff, managing director of McLaren Automotive, said the cars will be "more exclusive and priced at a premium" compared to rivals. The P11’s expected €100,000 price tag (currently about $130K), which is higher than a Porsche 911, but it is well under a 911 Turbo

There are also reports that the supercar company wants to expand into a three-car lineup, including an F1 revival. To full accomplish this, McLaren needs to appear to stand on its own. It’s building its own dealer network as well as planning a brand new factory.