The hard work is paying off for the UK supercar maker.
McLaren's operations in the US are just ten years old but are showing remarkable profits despite its small footprint. "2022 will go down as the most profitable year for McLaren dealers in North America," said Nicolas Brown, president of the McLaren Americas region, told Automotive News.
This will give some satisfaction and relief to McLaren as a whole following the long and expensive development of its next-generation supercar, the Artura. While 2022's success may have exceeded expectations, McLaren has been growing its success steadily here in the US over the past few years.
According to Brown, McLaren's growth in the US has been steady since 2018 following the introduction of the 570S and 720S models. He says the continued growth is the result of the balance the models brought to the brand's lineup. "But dealers are at least twice as profitable, if not three times as profitable, as those years."
Brown puts the profitability down to McLaren's shift to customer-ordered vehicles and an improved balance of supply and demand. McLaren has also been careful about its US expansion to ensure it doesn't have too many dealerships. An abundance of dealerships would suck up money and water down profits for dealers on what are, essentially, small-batch ultra-luxury cars.
Currently, McLaren has 28 dealers in North America, including Canada. Compared with 40 to 50 dealers for other high-end automakers like Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Aston Martin. Rather than expand dealerships, many of the dealers that came on board early are reinvesting or relocating to larger premises and taking advantage of McLaren's current facility upgrade program. Upgrades can include special commissioning areas where customers can spec their new supercar and a "working window" display a video feed from the McLaren Production Center showing cars being built in real-time.
This is excellent news for McLaren following the extended development of its next-generation and hybrid supercar, the Artura. The cost of the McLaren Artura making it to production hit the headlines when McLaren sold models from its heritage collection to get over the final humps.
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