McLaren plans 35 dealers
May 25th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
MCLAREN Automotive says its dealer network plans are almost in place with the first retailers announced soon.
35 dealers will open in 19 countries by next year – and McLaren will name the first 23 at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
There are going to be 12 in Europe, with the UK represented by car dealers in London, Birmingham and Manchester.
Antony Sheriff, McLaren Automotive’s MD, said: ‘It has been incredibly encouraging to experience the demand to sell McLarens from the world’s best car retailers – in every country in which we planned to launch and at the heart of all performance car markets.’
There was no shortage of car dealers to choose from, he revealed. Nearly 600 were on the consideration list to be McLaren Automotive retailers – 100 pre-selected by the firm, and 500 more making direct approaches to him.
The expectations from the brand, he says, are ‘sensible, but high quality’. Car dealers have duly responded: ‘nearly half are building brand new flagship showrooms.’
‘Best for car dealer’
McLaren, he promised, will focus on what’s best for the car dealer – ‘sensible investment, and attention to customer service and aftersales, both in how we treat the customer and how we design the car.
‘We will offer the retailers a unique focus on the customer, supporting them far more than is typical after a sale has been completed.
‘We have a phrase at McLaren that sums up our attitude and appeals to the retail business: sanity, not vanity.
Contract negotiations are under way with the dealers now. Once they’re sorted, McLaren’s going to start delivering details of the 2500-plus people who have registered ‘expressions of interest’ on the McLaren Automotive website.
The good news continues for McLaren’s UK dealers too: Europe is going to get the very first cars off the production line, as it gears up to a 1000-a-year total for the MP4-12C.
Longer term, there are plans to sell a range of cars, making it a 4000-a-year car market. But there will never be more than 70 car dealers worldwide…
Tags: F1, franchise, mclaren automotive, network