“I wish I could show you what’s on the other side of this wall,” managing director of McLaren Automotive Antony Sheriff says as we arrive at a room-sized projection monitor—dubbed the “Power Wall”—at the company’s ultramodern headquarters. A digital composite of the new MP4-12C assembles on screen, but power of suggestion being what it is, I’m still thinking about penetrating the inner sanctum (i.e., design department) next door to find out what’s next for McLaren—not the Ferrari-challenging F1 team, but the Ferrari-challenging sports-car builder. Forget it. Here at the company’s Silicon Valley-meets-The Andromeda Strain complex, one gets the impression McLaren head Ron Dennis, a commanding figure by reputation, has made special “accommodations” for interlopers, possibly in the form of poison darts or tactical lasers.

Later this year, the MP4-12C will make a stout run at the Ferrari 458 and other cars of its ilk—and some that aren’t. Sheriff says the company wants to conquest luxury buyers who haven’t considered a sports car before. He insists the 600-hp 12C isn’t a specialist player like the company’s pioneering F1 from the 1990s, but an all-rounder equally up for an ice-cream run as a piff ’round the Nürburgring. It’s also the only clue to a nascent automaker that’s doing what other players can’t: make a clean-sheet start. If you’ve been waiting for a new car company with the sensibilities of a NorCal tech firm, McLaren could well be your new best friend. Stay tuned.

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Mike Spinelli