Mclaren Automotive Confirms European Retail Network As Mp4-12c Begins World Tour In Germany

Two further retailers for Germany and a Spanish partner will complete the initial European network and will be confirmed in the coming weeks along with McLaren Automotive’s North American, Middle Eastern and South African partners. The company’s Asia Pacific network will be announced later in the year.

Ron Dennis, McLaren Automotive’s Executive Chairman said, “This announcement is a major step in McLaren’s history as we progress with our plan to launch a premium, profitable and innovative new sports car company. We have been rigorous in the selection process of our first group of global retail partners – taking a year to select the best thirty-five from six hundred potential retailers. They are now part of the McLaren family.

“It is, therefore, their responsibility to represent our incredibly high standards to future McLaren customers. But this is a relationship, and McLaren also has a responsibility to our retail partners: to provide a sustainable business, with the best opportunities for growth through a strong brand and exciting, innovative cars of the highest quality.”

The initial 35 automotive retailers will begin selling the McLaren MP4-12C from spring 2011. Longer-term, a full model range of around 4,000 high-performance, mid-engine McLaren sports cars will be produced annually by McLaren Automotive in the UK. McLaren Automotive’s aim is for its global network to remain more exclusive, more flexible, and more profitable than competitors’ networks, with a target of around 70 retailers worldwide.

Antony Sheriff, McLaren Automotive’s Managing Director: “Following the announcement in autumn 2009 of our intention to sell a range of premium, ‘pure McLaren’ sports cars, we were inundated with requests from the world’s best car retailers to represent McLaren. Safe to say, the selected retailers really are the cream of the crop.

“Competing in global markets will be an exciting challenge for us as a new car company, but we are confident that our performance benchmarks, technological innovation, and focus on quality will deliver new standards in sports car design. The final step is putting in place a retail network that is capable of delivering extraordinary customer service, and we now have the ideal partners in Europe to support us in delivering on those expectations,” Sheriff concluded.

McLaren Automotive plans to build around 1,000 12Cs in 2011, to be sold initially in 19 countries. The UK, USA, and Germany will be the company’s biggest markets for the 12C. In 2011, between 300 and 400 cars are planned for North America, 400 to 500 for Europe (70 per cent to UK and Germany), and 100 to 200 each for the Middle East, South Africa and Asia Pacific regions.

Orders for the 12C will be taken by McLaren Automotive’s new retail network and delivered to McLaren from the autumn. Significant demand is promised: a detailed communication process between McLaren Automotive and prospective customers who have registered a ‘serious intention to buy’ the 12C has confirmed over 2,500 potential orders. This encouraging number will be further supplemented by retailers’ existing performance car customers tempted by McLaren and the 12C’s unique facets.

The first 12Cs will be delivered to customers in the UK and Europe from spring 2011, followed by a phased distribution to retailers in the Middle East, South Africa, North America and Asia Pacific. Prices for the 12C will be confirmed at a later date, but the car will sit in what McLaren terms the ‘core’ sports car segment of cars priced between £125,000 and £175,000.

Christian Marti, McLaren Automotive’s Regional Director for Europe, said: “We began our comprehensive search for the best retailers over a year ago. There was understandably strong competition to represent McLaren in Europe, particularly based on the company’s reputation built from Formula 1 and Le Mans racing success, as well as the icon that is the McLaren F1.

“During the selection process we presented a strong business plan that focused on an innovative product line-up, and detailed attention to customer service and aftersales. We have a phrase at McLaren that sums up our attitude towards the retail business: “sanity, not vanity”, and we will work very closely with our European network to deliver great solutions for our future customers,” Marti concluded.

New factory and global plans
A brand-new manufacturing facility, the McLaren Production Centre (MPC), began construction on March 1 2010 adjacent to the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC). It will be completed, and begin building cars for Europe, in spring 2011. But the very first European customers will have their cars built from the beginning of 2011 under the same roof as McLaren’s Formula 1 cars in the MTC, prior to the opening of the MPC. This planned manufacturing programme will ensure the same unprecedented quality that McLaren delivered during SLR production in the MTC is transferred onto all future McLarens.

McLaren on-tour round the world: Festival of Speed takes centre-stage
Car enthusiasts and potential McLaren customers will be the first to see the 12C as it makes its public world debut at the world-famous Goodwood Festival of Speed (July 1, 2, 3, 4) near Chichester, England. This follows a series of private viewings of the 12C in Düsseldorf, Brussels, and Zürich in June, and prior to similar events planned at US retailer locations. UK McLaren retailers and their potential customers will be invited to the company’s award-winning MTC headquarters in Woking, Surrey in early July.

The 12C then continues its world tour throughout 2010, being presented to select audiences of McLaren fans, and taking in every city in which the car will be sold, from Sydney to San Francisco.