McLaren 12C Spider: Official

After a tease last week McLaren Automotive has revealed the convertible MP4-12C – the McLaren 12C Spider.

We did think there was a chance McLaren would try to steal Ferrari’s thunder by revealing the convertible version of the MP4-12C at Goodwood this last weekend, but they didn’t.

But today the McLaren 12C Spider (not the MP4-12C Spider) is officially revealed, and by the look of it no one will be buying the MP4-12C any more.

With its carbon fibre tub the 12C Spider offers exactly the same rigidity as the MP4-12C but it gets a trick folding roof that makes the 12C Spider look stunning – far less the generic supercar the MP4-12C is sometimes considered.

With the same 616bhp V8 as the MP4-12C, the 12C Spider loses almost nothing in performance. It gets to 62mph in the same 3.1 seconds, hits 100mph just 0.1 seconds slower and hits 204mph, just 3mph slower than the coupe thanks to an extra weight of just 40kg from the folding hardtop.

The folding hardtop takes less than 17 seconds to raise or lower and can be operated up to 19mph. There’s also a window behind the front seats that can be left up as a wind deflector when the roof is down or lowered when it’s up to get more aural feedback from the engine behind, an engine that is still on show when the roof is down. Bravo.

The 12C Spider also gets extra luggage space with the roof up and McLaren has included a set of bespoke luggage to fit which, remarkably, is a freebie for 12C Spider buyers.

McLaren already has a configurator for the 12C Spider up and running, so once you’ve finished drooling over the photos below you can jump over and waste half an hour.

And if you’ve got around £195k going spare (we don’t have a price for the McLaren 12C Spider yet – but thereabouts) get to your McLaren dealer asap. First customer cars are due in November.