McLaren F2 prototypes are already on the road in the United Kingdom, according to British car magazine Autocar. The F2 is a much-anticipated follow-up to McLaren’s F1 supercar of the early ’90s, a legend the day it was introduced.
The F2 — shown right in an artist’s illustration — is apparently the result of an aborted collaboration with Mercedes-Benz . After the launch of the SLR, the Germans wanted McLaren to create a less expensive, mid-engined supercar. The project, codnamed P8, was put on hold in late 2004 due to quality woes in Mercedes’ high production models and, possibly, due to the SLR’s poor sales figures.
McLaren and Mercedes-Benz recently decided to part ways in the design of future supercars. As previously reported, Mercedes will work with racing partner H.W.A. to build a rival to the Audi R8 , rather than building a sucessor to the $450,000+ SLR.
