The McLaren MP4-12C is moving toward initial production before going full scale upon completion of the new Woking Production Center. As part of the ongoing launch of the new McLaren Automotive retail brand, the company has announced the first set of locations that will host dealerships. Nine U.S. cities made the cut.

Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orange County (not actually a city, but hey, that's how they listed it), Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Tampa will be the first in the U.S. Toronto will be Canada's only dealership among the initial group, rounding out 10 outlets in North America. There will be another 25 dealerships in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, including core hotspots like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sydney, Tokyo, London, Monaco, Paris and Munich.

Rather than purely going its own, however, McLaren will utilize existing retailers of exotic machinery to sell its cars. McLaren hopes these partners will help build the brand and the customer experience it is seeking to achieve.

The MP4-12C ought to do a lot of the work for the retailers, however many retailers are planning upgrades for McLaren's arrival. “We have proposed sensible, but high quality, expectations from our preferred retail partners and have been amazed at some of the proposals presented by potential retailers: nearly half are building brand new flagship showrooms," said Antony Sheriff, managing director at McLaren Automotive.

We'll have to wait almost a full year before the 12C goes on sale anywhere in the world, but McLaren says early demand is already high enough that they expect 300-400 cars for North America out of the first 1,000. The rest will be distributed primarily to Europe, with 100-200 going to each of the other major regions.

With 600 horsepower and 440 pound-feet of torque from a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-8 engine, a carbon fiber tub, a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox and a host of other high-tech, race-inspired features, we're eagerly looking forward to seeing how the MP4-12C stacks up against the competition in the real world.

[McLaren Automotive]