McLaren Spends $1 Billion on Super Cars to Challenge Ferrari

[Bodhii]

McLaren Spends $1 Billion on Super Cars to Challenge Ferrari




McLaren Spends $1 Billion on Super Cars to Challenge Ferrari
Report from Bloomberg

McLaren Group plans to spend as much as $1 billion developing and marketing a range of sports cars to take on models from Ferrari SpA and Lamborghini SpA. The U.K. company plans to unveil 13 models and variants in the coming years to build its lineup, Antony Sheriff, McLaren Automotive’s managing director, said in a London interview.

McLaren, best-known as the most successful Formula One team after Ferrari, opened its first dealership yesterday at London’s One Hyde Park as it seeks to expand sales. The automaker is planning 35 dealerships worldwide this year, including nine in the U.S., the largest market for luxury cars.

“I see it as a fantastic challenge to come to the market with a new brand,” Executive Chairman Ron Dennis said in a Bloomberg Television interview late yesterday.

McLaren has already shelled out about $320 million to develop its 200-mile-per-hour MP4-12C, Sheriff said. The automaker last month unveiled a track version of the car that will cost 310,000 pounds ($500,000).

The MP4-12C road car, successor to the McLaren F1, the world’s costliest auto in the 1990s and the fastest at 240 mph, has racked up 2,000 orders and there is a two-year waiting list to receive one, the company said.




Performance Criteria

The MP4-12C takes its name from the MP4 designation given to all of McLaren’s race cars since 1981, the latest being the MP4-26 driven by Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, who attended yesterday’s opening. 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 last month.

Dennis said he intends to sell as much as 47 percent of McLaren Automotive by the end of the year to reduce debt. The executive, who hired Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) to manage the equity sale, said it was progressing “a bit slower” than he envisaged.

“We don’t like debt,” Dennis said. “Investors have got to be patient but there is very clearly a profit coming after three or four years.”
The company is aiming to reach revenue of 1 billion pounds within five years, Dennis said.

Source [Bloomberg]

[Yspokes]

Wow! Sounds like they are serious about being a contender for the world market.

[Rit2]

Sounds that they are not financially strong either.

[harrison]

Hope that the BILLION DOLLARS spent, translates into a less expensive purchase price for the MPs!! And what a clean shop they keep.

[Bodhii]

I would like to see what they are thinking about future entry level cars and sportscars in the R8 price ranges.

[drifting]

They are hard enough to get now without a build date for 2014
I think it might be a 458 then McLaren

The base price isn't far off a R8 GT and your getting much more car than a GT

[gazza1]

Review says it all and consistent with other commentary.

http://www.gtspirit.com/2011/06/25/v...ri-458-italia/

[alfessex]

I drove past the mclaren showroom in London today for the first time and the car and their overall showroom building was looking amazing...you wouldn't expect anything less from them.