McLaren Automotive Unveils P1 Concept

McLaren Automotive was going to wait until next week’s 2012 Paris Motor Show to drop details on its P1 concept, but they’ve decided to leak photos and some info ahead of schedule. The P1, aka P12, is supposed to be the successor to the McLaren F1.

According to managing director Antony Sheriff, the P1 is built to be “the most exciting, most capable, most technologically advanced and most dynamically accomplished supercar ever made–not necessarily to be the fastest in absolute top speed but to be the quickest and most rewarding series production road car on a circuit.”

This design preview isn’t going to be the final production version of the P1, which is probably be unveiled and release sometime in the next year or so, the company mentions. Just so that you’re properly informed, the McLaren F1 is the super car that set the 1998 world record as the fastest road-going vehicle at 231 mph. No exact specs were given on the P1, but early reports suggest that it might feature a 3.8-liter V8 with a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) for a total output of 963 horsepower that has a 9-62 mph time of just 2.8 seconds with a top speed of 239 mph.