MP4-12C starts a 50-venue global promotional tour

McLaren Supercar Buoyed by Europe as Austerity Fades
By Steven Rothwell

June 15 (Bloomberg) -- McLaren Group said Europe will provide at least half the buyers for its 200-mile-per-hour, Ferrari-rivaling MP4-12C supercar as demand for luxury autos rebounds from last year’s recession.

The 12C, which will cost about 150,000 pounds ($227,000), starts a 50-venue global promotional tour in Germany on June 17. About 2,500 expressions of interest have been received for the 1,000 cars to be produced next year, McLaren Automotive Managing Director Antony Sheriff said yesterday in an interview at the company’s base in Woking, near London.

“For many people it didn’t seem like the right time to be seen driving this type of a car, but from the interest that’s out there it appears that they’re growing a bit sick of self- imposed austerity,” Sheriff said. “The waiting list will be pushing on towards a year almost immediately.”

Britain and Germany will lead European sales, while a further one-third of orders will come from the U.S. and the rest from Asia and the Middle East, the executive said. McLaren, best-known for the most successful Formula One racing team after Ferrari, has selected 35 global dealerships to open in 2011, increasing to at least 70 by 2015 as the model range expands.

Sheriff predicts that luxury and sports-car sales will jump about 35 percent this year after slumping during the recession.

Private Viewing

The 12C will be shown in a private viewing to dealers and registered potential clients in Dusseldorf this week, Zurich and Brussels next week and U.K. buyers in Woking later this month. The car, a rival to Ferrari’s 458 and the Lamborghini Gallardo, will make its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, held at a racing circuit in southern England in July.

Jardine Motors Group will run McLaren’s London dealership, while Moll Sportwagen in Dusseldorf and Kamps Gruppe in Hamburg -- trading as Merkur Hanseatische Beteiligungs AG -- will sell the cars in Germany. Neubauer will act as distributer in Paris, Fassina Group in Milan, Schmohl AG in Zurich and Monaco Luxury Group in Monaco.

“We feel we’re in a very comfortable position already, especially considering we haven’t started to market the car yet,” Sheriff said in the interview a day after McLaren F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button finished first and second in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen, said he wouldn’t have expected Europe to lead sales of the new McLaren.

‘Belt Tightening’

“I cannot quite conceive how Europe, at the moment, can add considerable momentum here,” he said. “The region seems captured by a pronounced sense of belt tightening. It’s more the rich Chinese, mad American business people or impetuous sheiks that would opt for this kind of car.”

In the U.S., the biggest supercar market, sales of autos costing more than $100,000 may jump 42 percent after falling 30 percent in 2009, industry researcher IHS Global Insight says.

McLaren will initially have nine U.S. dealers at locations including San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Miami, New York and Dallas, with one sales outlet in Toronto.

While performance figures haven’t been released, the 12C is likely to have a faster top speed and swifter acceleration than the 458, Sheriff said from an office overlooking two Ferraris and a Porsche 911 used in comparison tests.

The McLaren model takes its name from the MP4 designation given to all of the company’s race cars since 1981 -- the latest being the MP4-25 driven by Hamilton and Button. The “C” indicates the road car’s carbon construction and the “12” is a reflection of “internal performance criteria” including weight, aerodynamics, power and down force, Sheriff said.

Price Range

The price of the successor to the McLaren F1, the world’s costliest car in the 1990s and the fastest at 240 mph (386 kilometers per hour), has yet to be finalized, but will be in the range of 125,000 pounds to 175,000 pounds, Sheriff said.

McLaren intends to differentiate its dealerships from those of competitors by having all spare parts on site to ensure servicing can be carried out with the shortest possible delay.

“The single thing that drives the satisfaction of the customer the most is the after-sales service,” Sheriff said. “We’ve worked with our dealers to create a system where just about every part of the car is in every dealership.”

McLaren Automotive still plans to sell a stake to investors to raise funds, Sheriff said.

Chairman Ron Dennis said in March he was looking for a buyer prepared to take a 48 percent holding and had hired Credit Suisse and HSBC Holdings in the Middle East.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Rothwell in Woking, England, at srothwell@bloomberg.net

Source (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aLi6_ZFXqW94&pos=14)

Video:

June 15 (Bloomberg) -- McLaren Group Operations Director Alan Foster gives Bloomberg's Steven Rothwell a tour of the Ferrari-rivaling MP4-12C supercar during a tour of the factory in Woking, England. The 12C will be shown in a private viewing to dealers and registered potential clients in Dusseldorf this week, Zurich and Brussels next week and U.K. buyers in Woking later this month. The car, a rival to Ferrari’s 458 and the Lamborghini Gallardo, will make its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, held at a racing circuit in southern England in July.

McLaren 12C Tour (http://noir.bloomberg.com/avp/avp.htm?N=video&T=McLaren+12C+Tour+&clipSRC=mms://media2.bloomberg.com/cache/vKutyHooFutM.asf)

>8^)
ER

Article (in German) and photos on the click-through.

http://www.autozeitung.de/sites/default/files/imagecache/640x481/images/bildergalerie/2010/06/McLaren-MP4-12C-launch-007.jpg (http://www.autozeitung.de/node/386671/11)

More here with hi-res photos:

http://www.auto-medienportal.net/artikel/detail/4531/

>8^)
ER

More great photos from the Dusseldorf showing here:

http://www.carpassion.com/magazin/438-mclaren-mp412c-deutschlandpremiere.html

>8^)
ER

amazing!

when is the opening in Brussels?

Seems like they have an exhibition planned for this coming week based on the details from that article. Unfortunately that is all that I know. Based on the description, these aren't really public events - more for potential owners and the local press it would seem. Still if you have the right connections I would bet that it isn't impossible to attend. You might even try contacting the local dealership with the info provided here (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1011483) and see if they can accommodate your request to attend.

>8^)
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Here's a video with Anthony Sheriff speaking at the Dusseldorf event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UACOTzQgV08

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ER

Photos from the Zurich event - click to see more:

http://www.asphalte.ch/news/wp-content/gallery/mclaren-mp4-12c/MP4_12C-12.jpg (http://www.asphalte.ch/news/?p=1184&pid=2205)

>8^)
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Here's a video from the Zurich event. It appears he is saying good things, but I have no idea what they are. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEm12eRSlVA

>8^)
ER

Here's an excellent gallery of shots taken during one of the customer previews held at the McLaren Technology Centre - click the pic to see the rest:

http://danh.smugmug.com/Cars/McLaren-MP4-12C/IMG0303/928047292_C5ESR-L.jpg (http://danh.smugmug.com/Cars/McLaren-MP4-12C/12858330_kYEXm#928044939_zy5sd)

>8^)
ER

Not sure this qualifies as a stop on the tour, but there was an MP4-12C on display during this past weekend's Farnborough Air Show.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/4814682746_f63543d65f_z.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4814690274_2232fd8b10_z.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4814054761_4e6594ac91_z.jpg

There are a few more and larger versions of that trio available in this Flickr Gallery (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wjgrundy/sets/72157624546576118/with/4814682746/).

>8^)
ER

MP4-12C unveiling at Pebble Beach:

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/08/01mp412cnadebut.jpg

HiRes image gallery:

Monterey 2010: McLaren MP4-12C makes North American debut, ushers in new McLaren order - Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/13/monterey-2010-mclaren-mp4-12c-makes-north-american-debut-usher/)

>8^)
ER

On the green outside the lodge at Pebble Beach:

http://images.thecarconnection.com/lrg/mclaren-mp4-12c-on-the-pebble-beach-concept-lawn_100319010_l.jpg

More here: http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1048283_pebble-2010-mclaren-mp4-12c-live-images

>8^)
ER

Beauty shots from Pebble Beach:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/MP4-12C/th_1425_LG.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/MP4-12C/1425_LG.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/MP4-12C/th_1461_LG.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/MP4-12C/1461_LG.jpg)

>8^)
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LINK: Just a Tease: New McLaren Dealership Previews MP4-12C, US Spec-Sheet Shown (http://wot.motortrend.com/6678617/auto-news/just-a-tease-new-mclaren-dealership-previews-mp4-12c-us-spec-sheet-shown/index.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/MP4-12C/2012-mclaren-mp4-12c-front-covered.jpg

>8^)
ER

The car looks very nice in silver.

This report from Toronto has a few details about growth plans I hadn't previously seen.

2011 McLaren MP4-12C Preview
By Mike Goetz - Wednesday, September 01, 2010

McLaren's new production road car, the MP4-12C, made its global and North American debuts this summer, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, respectively.

Now the carbon fibre and aluminum, mid-engine missile is off on a big tour.

On August 31, 2010, Toronto had the honour of kicking off its tour of selected North American retailers.

http://picolio.auto123.com/art-images/122455/2012-mclaren-mp4-12c-001.jpg/scale-792x594

Toronto-based Pfaff Automotive Partners is the sole Canadian McLaren retailer, though two more would be added when the automaker enters its next expansion phase sometime in 2012.

When the car launches next summer, there will be 23 dealers worldwide (10 in North America).

McLaren is adamant, however, that the worldwide dealer count will never exceed 70, a figure it feels is appropriate to retail the 4,000 or so vehicles it expects to sell annually. That sales volume equates to three to four percent of the global market for premium sports cars, which includes the usual suspects (Ferrari, Porsche, Maserati, Lamborghini, etc.).

McLaren's business model is predicated on sticking to that "conservative" sales target and not "over-dealering", so it can create an agile automaker-retailer entity, give customers the exclusivity they desire, and give retailers the volume they require, so they are profitable enough over the long haul, to treat new and past customers with a high standard of service.

That business model is just fine with Chris Pfaff, who heads up the group taking on McLaren in the Toronto area.

"It's refreshing", said Pfaff. "Almost every car maker wants more volume, volume, volume. McLaren set a volume target -- it doesn't care if demand is 50 percent more."

At this point, demand will surely outstrip supply. Only 1,000 vehicles will be built the first year, with only a third of that figure heading to North America. There is already a long list of "hand raisers", around the world and in Canada. Pfaff will start qualifying those interested parties, and taking deposits, sometime in the last quarter of this year.

"I've had people inquire before I even had the franchise", notes Pfaff. "We've taken down all the names. We're talking this very seriously. I want to make sure everyone knows that it's not Chris Pfaff's best friend from high school who gets to move to the top of the list.

"If the cars are completely sold out, we won't be arrogant about it. The waiting list process will be very transparent. You hear stories about the frustration people have with different cars and their waiting lists. We don't want that. We'll stay humble and appreciate any body that is going to do business with McLaren in Toronto."

According to Pfaff, the first wave of "hand raisers" have come more from the Ferrari crowd, than the Porsche crowd.

The facility itself will actually be located north of Toronto, in the city of Woodbridge, at a former Saturn dealership. According to Pfaff, converting a 1980-era domestic dealership to McLaren standards is a "huge undertaking," but his team is "very excited" about adding the storied brand to the dealer group, which already represents Porsche, Audi, VW, Toyota and Hyundai.

While Toronto will be McLaren's biggest Canadian market, it certainly won't be the only one. Customers will come from across Canada, which means "long-distance" service. The lone McLaren-certified technician will fly out to perform maintenance requirements at the prescribed intervals, and for emergency calls. Cars will also be trucked back to the dealership. Whenever possible McLaren will also utilize the car's on-board diagnostic systems, which can talk directly to technicians in the U.K.

Source: Auto123.com (http://www.auto123.com/en/news/car-news/2012-mclaren-mp4-12c-preview?artid=122455)

>8^)
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Also found a gallery with a ton of pics from the Beverly Hills AutoGallery unveiling:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mkoss2/MclarenParty#

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HiI was y'day eve to the Paris'show. Nothing really exceptional. Juste that grey MP4-12C + the nude body. Unfortunitly, no F1.Anyway the Champagne was good, and my ass in that car was great.Bye.