Mansory tunes the McLaren MP4-12C

Naturally, aesthetics is a subjective discipline and one that speaks volumes about your personality. Welcome then, to Mansory's take on the McLaren MP4-12C, set for a Geneva debut next week.

But in order to get context about this modification, we must first do some learning.

Last year, McLaren opened a brand new, £50 million building called the McLaren Production Centre (MPC). There, in Death Star ambience, many employees devoid of dirt and impure thoughts assemble the company's bombastic new supercar, the MP4-12C.

Clarkson on the McLaren MP4-12C

It's an astonishing building, some 20,000 cubic metres of engineering excellence, and that's just one startling fact about the MPC: the building was forged using 210,000 cubic metres of concrete and 9,200 square metres of blockwork. The frame is constructed of 1,500 tonnes of steel. We're told the logistics floor handles 60,000 components a day and at full capacity, McLaren reckons it can build an MP4-12C in five days and a new 12C will join the line every 45 minutes.

Not only that, it's parked right next to the even more astonishing McLaren Technology Centre; a Centre that will this year provide all the electronics for the Formula One grid.

That's just the ruddy buildings. You can only imagine the attention to detail these chaps put into the MP4-12C. (Hint: a lot).

McLaren MP4-12C vs Ferrari 458 Italia

Clearly though, Mansory knows something McLaren - with all its investment and technology and research and development and fastidiousness and such - doesn't. Clearly, the under-engineered MP4-12C needed a wide-body aero package that sits 60mm fatter than the standard car: think new bonnet, bumper, roof panel, flared arches and a carbon-fibre rear wing. Oh, and don't forget the 20in gold wheels.

And of course, it needed more power. Mansory has fitted a high-performance exhaust system, a new ECU and a sports air filter, liberating an extra 68bhp, taking total power up to 660bhp, along with a top speed of 219mph. Because clearly, that 3.8-litre, twin-turbo Ricardo V8 wasn't performing well enough (standard 0-62mph takes 3.3 seconds).

Somewhere, deep in the bowels of those illustrious McLaren buildings, some machines are sad.

You want more Mansory. You want to check out this. And this. And this. And this.