Chinese boom helps McLaren race ahead
MCLareN hailed record sales after a boom in demand from China.
The Surrey luxury sports car maker said it sold 4,806 vehicles in 2018, up 43.9pc on the previous year.
it was the eighth year of growth in a row at the company and bucked a downward trend in the wider automotive market which has worried industry leaders.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) sounded the alarm about a slowdown again yesterday, warning of a ‘substantial decline’ in new car registrations.
Mike Hawes, the SMMT’s chief executive, also said car makers faced continued uncertainty ahead of Brexit at the end of March.
But McLaren’s automotive arm saw exports soar all around the world. Chief executive Mike Flewitt said he remained optimistic about 2019.
He added: ‘record sales highlight what a momentous year 2018 was for McLaren. we believe we’re wellplaced in 2019. our optimism is buoyed by the fact we already have strong orders this year and exciting products lined up.’
The company celebrated building its 15,000th car in the summer at its production centre in woking, where all of cars are hand-assembled.
it launched its two-door 720S coupe in 2017, which has a retractable roof, a top speed of nearly 212 mph and can go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. The cars sell from just under £210,000 each.
During the same year McLaren unveiled the 570S Spider. The twodoor convertible, a variant of the earlier 570S, has a top speed of 204 mph and sells from £165,000.
McLaren said sales leapt by 122.5pc in China after the launch of the vehicles, with the country accounting for 7pc of global revenues. european sales rose 44.2pc and UK sales by 49.2pc. There was also record growth in North america, which is McLaren’s biggest market and makes up one third of the car maker’s overall sales.
McLaren group is majorityowned by Mumtalakat Holding Company, the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain. its other arms include a Formula one racing team and McLaren applied Technologies, which makes electronic equipment.
The strong car sales were in stark contrast to the rest of the automotive market.
The SMMT said new car registrations fell 6.8pc in 2018 to 2.37m vehicles after ‘a year of turbulence’. it blamed this partly on regulatory changes and ‘anti-diesel’ policies introduced by the government. Diesel vehicle registrations declined for the 21st consecutive month in a row, the SMMT said, falling 29.6pc in the year.
This compared to 8.7pc more registrations of petrol vehicles and a 20.9pc rise in registrations of electrics and hybrids.
SMMT boss Hawes said: ‘a second year of substantial decline is a major concern.
‘The industry is facing evertougher environmental targets against a backdrop of political and economic uncertainty that is weakening demand, so these figures should act as a wake-up call for policy makers.
TeSLa has started work on a factory in China. The so-called gigafactory in Shanghai will be used to produce the electric car maker’s Model 3 sedan and planned Model Y car, chief executive elon Musk said. it is due to be up and running by the end of 2019.
Musk, 47, was shown on Chinese television attending a ceremony on the outskirts of Shanghai with officials.
The billionaire tweeted: ‘aiming to finish initial construction this summer, start Model 3 production end of year.’