New figures have revealed that McLaren Automotive is the fastest growing luxury automotive brand in the UK.
McLaren Automotive recorded an impressive 48% growth – with 390 vehicles registered in the first half of 2018, according to year-to-date registration figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
The British creator of luxury sportscars and supercars attributed the considerable increase to the performance of the brand’s core models including the award-winning McLaren 720S and the open-top McLaren 570S Spider.
It added that sales are almost equally split between the brand’s Sports and Super Series lines.
McLaren Automotive recently celebrated the assembly of its 15,000th car and is now regularly producing 20 cars daily to meet global demand, not least from its home market.
This now includes the McLaren Senna of which the first UK example will soon be delivered.
The manufacturer has also recently increased its number of UK retailers to eight, with McLaren Hatfield and McLaren Leeds opening doors for business.
A new location for the south coast of England is reportedly currently under consideration.
Worldwide, the brand operates via a network of 86 locations in more than 30 markets and with a record 3,340 cars sold in 2017, is the largest part of the McLaren Group – which comprises three principal businesses: Automotive, Racing and Applied Technologies.
“McLaren’s DNA at its most extreme”
As 2017 drew to a close and fresh off the stage from winning ‘Manufacturer of the Year’ at The Manufacturer MX Awards, McLaren Automotive revealed its new track-focused road car, the McLaren Senna – which has been described as “legalised for road use, but not sanitised to suit it”.
Inspired by one of its greatest racing drivers, Ayrton Senna – who delivered three World Drivers’ Championships after he joined McLaren in 1988, the vehicle continues the product family introduced with the McLaren P1.
In February 2018, McLaren Automotive were handed the keys to its new £50m bespoke manufacturing unit within the 100-acre Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Sheffield.
The facility is where the manufacturer makes its ultra-lightweight and strong carbon fibre tubs that are at the heart of all its luxury family of sportscars and supercars.
Finished tubs are then be sent to the McLaren Production Centre in Surrey where the company’s vehicles have been hand-assembled since 2011.
Ahead of the opening, The Manufacturer’s Nick Peters headed to Sheffield to attend an exclusive, invite-only event which included music, lights, lasers, a pristine concrete floor and two very special vehicles.
You can read about the day – and what happened to the floor! – by clicking here.