Last Auto news - McLaren sales off to a flying start

Last Auto news - McLaren sales off to a flying start Production plans and number of official expressions of interest confirmed for MP4-12C

Meet the supercar that’s selling like hot cakes! Since the first pictures of the car were released last September, 1,600 people have signed official expressions of interest. And with just 1,000 cars set to be built in 2011, buyers will be in for quite a wait to get their hands on the firm’s Mercedes SLS rival.

The first customer cars will be assembled on the old McLaren SLR production line located within the firm’s Technology Centre. However, production will switch to a purpose-built facility next door to McLaren’s Woking F1 base which opens in March 2011. The new factory was designed by Foster and Partners, just as the F1 base was, and represents a £40million investment from McLaren shareholders.

Prices for the MP4-12C haven’t yet been confirmed, but it will cost between £125,000 and £175,000 when deliveries begin in Spring 2011. McLaren Automotive MC Antony Sheriff has confirmed that the car will be sold in 35 specially selected dealerships in 19 countries.

What’s more, the firm has confirmed that it aims to set new standards for customer support at its dealer franchises, which have to adhere to the firm’s ‘sanity not vanity’ principle.

According to Sheriff this “favours heavy investments in training and diagnostic equipment over showroom palaces.” This means that before a customer car is even sold, the dealer receives at least one of every single part that can be fitted to the car to ensure stock is always available. Each car includes an on-board diagnostic function too, which sends the dealer a text message with the fault code, allowing preparations for the repair to be made.