McLaren has high hopes for its all-new MP4-12C supercar, but the Ferrari -rival is already off to a rocky start in the United States market. McLaren’s U.S. dealer body is reportedly getting cold feet about selling a single vehicle line, delaying the car’s American debut.
According to Edmunds, McLaren is having a difficult time establishing a U.S. dealer network. As logic would have it, it becomes increasingly difficult to sell cars without an appropriate dealer network – let alone a six-figure supercar – forcing McLaren to delay the launch of the MP4-12C.
The MP4-12C was scheduled to debut at December’s Los Angeles Auto Show, but McLaren has officially pulled its name from the SoCal show. It remains unclear when the MP4-12C will finally hit the show circuit, but McLaren’s latest creation won’t hit the U.S. market until mid-2010 at the earliest.
McLaren’s first MP4-12C sales will likely be carried out through a very limited dealer network – as was the case with the company’s F1 supercar – but the British automaker will eventually need a much broader network. McLaren sold far fewer than 100 F1s in America, but has a much higher volume goal for the MP4-12C.
