McLaren Automotive Announces Record Global Sales
McLaren recorded a total sales figure of 3,340 cars in 2017. In 2018, McLaren sales jumped 43.9%, to 4,806 cars.
Global sales for McLaren Automotive, the British creator of luxury sportscars and supercars, rose to 4,806 cars in 2018 with sales up 43.9 percent over the previous year. This is another record for the company which has increased sales every year since its formation in 2010.
North America, which represents McLaren’s biggest single market and over a third of global sales, surpassed the 5,000 cars sold mark since sales started in 2011 and achieved another year of record growth.
European sales rose 44.2 percent but the biggest leap was seen in China at 122.5 percent growth following the introduction of the 570S Spider and 720S. China now accounts for almost 7 percent of total global sales.
McLaren’s UK domestic market remained strong, achieving a 49.2 percent year-on-year growth.
The company celebrated building its 15,000th car in the summer at the McLaren Production Center (MPC) in Woking, Surrey, where all its cars are hand-assembled, and consistently achieved over 20 cars a day with production exported to over 30 markets.
The MPC also built its most varied mix of products yet including examples from each of the company’s now firmly established Sports, Super and Ultimate Series offerings. As well as the 600LT and McLaren Senna, the company also launched the first two of 18 new products or derivates under its $1.5BN Track25 business plan, the fully-deposited Speedtail and, most recently, 720S Spider.
Growth was supported by a rise in the number of retailers with openings in Bellevue, Washington and Troy, Michigan in North America, a second site added in Tokyo plus new sites in Sao Paulo, Guangzhou in China and Leeds and Hatfield in the UK, signaling a strong domestic market. The brand is now retailed in 32 markets with the additions of Riga in Latvia and Warsaw in Poland.
McLaren’s in-house bespoke division, McLaren Special Operations (MSO), which undertakes special vehicle commission and customization, also had a busy year. More customers are now choosing to add unique, additional luxury touches to their acquisitions which has seen the MSO order book triple in one year.
In November, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Crown Prince of Bahrain opened the company’s second ever facility, the $65M McLaren Composites Technology Center in the Sheffield region. It will help the company to innovate and produce lightweight carbon fiber ‘tubs’ that will enable it to deliver the lightest in class products and win what CEO Mike Flewitt has described as the new ‘lightweight race’ in place of the traditional ‘power race’, essential as the company moves towards 100 percent hybrid sportscars and supercars by 2024, more sustainable solutions which tend to be heavier than traditional gasoline-based powertrains.