Photo: McLaren
Back in 2010, at the height of the financial crisis in the automotive industry, McLaren Cars was reborn into McLaren Automotive. The gamble of the Brits – going into this business when countless others were going out of it – seems to have paid off, as ever since 2010 numbers showed a steady and hefty increase in sales.
None of the previous years seem to have been as good for the company as the one that just ended. Compared to 2017, there were 4,806 new McLaren cars sold last year globally, an increase of 43.9 percent. That’s a number probably few others will be able to brag about for 2018.
Currently, McLaren’s biggest market is North America, where a record - yet unspecified - growth was reported by the car builder; in Europe, sales increased by 44.2 percent (49.2 percent in the UK). But none of these regions come even remotely close to China.
Having launched on the local market the 570S Spider and 720S, McLaren’s sales in China skyrocketed by 122.5 percent, the country now accounting for 7 percent of all the sales in 32 markets the brand is present in.
But McLaren makes money not from cars exclusively, but also from tweaking them to the likes of their owners. The task force in charge with creating bespoke cars, McLaren Special Operations (MSO) tripled its work volume last year – the company does not translate that into figures – showing how important it is for niche car manufacturers to give their customers the power of choice.
“In 2018, we achieved our broadest product offering, launching differentiated, world-beating products such as 600LT and the first two cars under our Track25 business plan in the sublime forms of the Speedtail and 720S Spider both of which have been enthusiastically welcomed by the market,” said in a statement Mike Flewitt, McLaren CEO.
As for 2019, the outlook is even better. The company plans to continue rolling out new cars or derivatives of existing ones, with the target set to have 18 car launches over the following seven years. That’s one every five months or so until 2025.
Currently, McLaren’s biggest market is North America, where a record - yet unspecified - growth was reported by the car builder; in Europe, sales increased by 44.2 percent (49.2 percent in the UK). But none of these regions come even remotely close to China.
Having launched on the local market the 570S Spider and 720S, McLaren’s sales in China skyrocketed by 122.5 percent, the country now accounting for 7 percent of all the sales in 32 markets the brand is present in.
But McLaren makes money not from cars exclusively, but also from tweaking them to the likes of their owners. The task force in charge with creating bespoke cars, McLaren Special Operations (MSO) tripled its work volume last year – the company does not translate that into figures – showing how important it is for niche car manufacturers to give their customers the power of choice.
“In 2018, we achieved our broadest product offering, launching differentiated, world-beating products such as 600LT and the first two cars under our Track25 business plan in the sublime forms of the Speedtail and 720S Spider both of which have been enthusiastically welcomed by the market,” said in a statement Mike Flewitt, McLaren CEO.
As for 2019, the outlook is even better. The company plans to continue rolling out new cars or derivatives of existing ones, with the target set to have 18 car launches over the following seven years. That’s one every five months or so until 2025.
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