The McLaren 12C is dead

Bad news! McLaren has killed off its bi-turbo V8 supercar, the 12C.

Good news! McLaren will continue to build its other bi-turbo V8 supercar, the 650S.

The company confirmed that production of the 12C - the company's in-house supercar since the F1 - has stopped. "Following the temporary suspension of 12C and 12C Spider production, McLaren Automotive confirms that a six month order bank of the McLaren 650S has already been built and, as a result, the McLaren Production Centre will now focus completely on producing the McLaren 650S moving forward," a spokesman told TopGear.com.

McLaren also told us there'll be a bit of a tech transfer between the two cars. "McLaren has always believed in continual development - a trait we have inherited from our racing roots. A range of developments seen on the McLaren 650S will be made available to existing 12C customers to further enhance the driving and ownership experience, and additional options introduced on the 650S will also be made available for 12C models."

Hardly a surprising move. When McLaren revealed the 650S - essentially a harder, faster, more pointy-faced 12C - earlier this year, we questioned where this left the 12C itself. Though the 650S is a little more expensive, it's actually barely pricier when you factor in the extra standard equipment over the 12C, particularly its carbon brakes. Who, we asked, would go for the 'old' 12C when they could have a 650S?

And now it seems, a little belatedly, McLaren agrees with our assessment. Concentrating solely on the more expensive 650S gives McLaren space directly underneath the model line in which the upcoming P13 can sit. That car, as TG's Paul Horrell told you last week, is McLaren's ‘baby' supercar, will cost around £125k and enter production at the end of 2015.

In fact, the final design freeze of the P13 will take place over the next few days. You can read the full story on this baby McLaren here.

Sad to see the 12C go? Don't be - the new 650S which we drove last week is a thoroughly rebooted version of that car, and a lot better too. Read Top Gear's first drive here.