McLaren Announces New Special Operations Customizing Division [with Video]

If you are one of the few lucky people in this world to be able afford an MP4-12C, but you want the supercar to differ from the one parked in the garage of your obviously wealthy neighbor, the new Special Operations division of McLaren Automotive has a solution.

The new division, which was announced at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance show, aims to create bespoke versions in order to satisfy customer needs for differentiation.

The car on display had a satin matte “Volcano Orange” paint with a black roof, “diamond cut” finish alloy wheels with black inners, and plenty of carbon fibre applied on the sills, the steering wheel, the front wheel arches, the engine cover vents, the rear deck vent and the wiper covers. Now, that’ a lot of carbon…

If orange is not your style, perhaps you will find the chrome-coated MP4-12C painted in the same lightweight AkzoNobel Sikkens’ color used exclusively on McLaren’s Formula 1 cars more appealing.

Unfortunately, even customizing has its limits: this drag-minimizing paint will not be available on the Special Operations catalogue and will solely adorn Hamilton’s and Button’s cars.

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Land Rover Previews the Future of the Defender with Frankfurt-Bound DC100 Concept

The Land Rover Defender is without doubt, one of the most renowned and recognizable off-road models in the world, which makes designing a replacement model an extremely challenging task, to say the least.

But the British automaker, which is now under the control of India's Tata Motors, believes it's time to move on and prepare fans of the vehicle and consumers alike for the next generation of its iconic Defender with the presentation of the DC100 concept that will bow in Frankfurt next month.

And mind you, the new Defender isn’t as far away as you may think as Land Rover also confirmed today that production of the new model is "is intended for 2015".

Commenting on the DC100 concept car, Land Rover's design boss, Gerry McGovern, had this to say:

"Replacing the iconic Defender is one of the biggest challenges in the automotive design world; it is a car that inspires people worldwide. This isn't a production-ready concept but the beginning of a four-year journey to design a relevant Defender for the 21st century."

What this means is that Land Rover plans to gauge the level of interest in the design of the DC100, be that positive or negative reactions, and make the necessary changes or perhaps even change the styling direction if it fails to ignite some passion.

"We plan to engage with existing and potential customers to help us finalise the details of the new vehicle," says Land Rover's global brand director, John Edwards. "One thing's for sure, it's going to be an exciting journey, and we can't wait to get going."

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