McLaren Asia Pacific’s Singapore base is go

MCLAREN Automotive has placed “one foot in the east and one foot in the west” by selecting Singapore as the base for its Asia Pacific operations, which will be responsible for the importation, distribution, logistics, sales, marketing, technical support and financial services relating to the brand’s sportscars in the region.

The founding of McLaren Automotive Asia Pte Ltd – a wholly-owned subsidiary of the British firm – follows “significant” investment in the company by Peter Lim, a Singaporean billionaire who obtained his accountancy degree in Western Australia.

Mr Lim will sit on the board alongside executive chairman Ron Dennis and global sales and marketing director Greg Levine.

Sydney-based Trivett is among the five initial McLaren dealers in the process of opening in the region, along with others in Hong Kong, Osaka, Tokyo and Singapore, with plans to expand into mainland China under consideration.

McLaren says the order bank that has built up across Asia Pacific for the brand’s inaugural MP4-12C supercar is already worth 18 months’ supply.

A Trivett spokesman told GoAuto last month the entire local McLaren allocation of 10-12 cars for 2011 – deliveries of which begin next month – is already sold out and the company is well into its 2012 allocation, which is hoped to be at least twice as large.

Left: McLaren MP4-12C.

McLaren wants dealer expansion in Asia Pacific to be “conservative and strategic, aimed at supporting excellent returns for retail partners that generates a market-leading ownership experience for McLaren’s customers”.

To this end, Trivett is planning a second McLaren dealership for 2012, to be located in Melbourne.

Mr Dennis described success in Asia Pacific as “vital” to McLaren’s ambitions, referring to the brand’s fan base there from its Formula 1 success and the fact that a quarter of all existing McLaren F1 road cars reside in the region.

He said Singapore was the “natural location” for its base in the region, being home to “successful entrepreneurs and proactive business leaders with a ‘can do’ attitude and an interest in sports cars”.

“Confirming Peter Lim’s involvement with the company and the setting up of McLaren Automotive Asia shows our ambition for the region that is becoming the world’s focus for premium cars,” he said, adding that Asia Pacific yields “world-leading” growth in high net worth individuals and annual GDP growth rates expected to outperform the rest of the world.

“That growth is driven by younger entrepreneurs who are keen to invest in luxury products: sport and cars are of huge interest, putting McLaren front of mind,” said Mr Dennis.

McLaren launched its ‘Special Operations’ bespoke customisation service at the recent Pebble Beach automotive event in California.

The service enables customers to tailor their cars to an extent way beyond the scope of the official options list, with a “never say no” policy.

McLaren’s two-seat MP4-12C costs from around half a million dollars in Australia and its mid-mounted 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 was developed with automotive engineering company Ricardo to deliver 441kW of peak power with maximum torque of 601Nm, yet emit less than 300 grams of CO2 per kilometre.

The unit can rev past 10,000rpm and catapults the 1300kg carbon-fibre-bodied coupe from 0-100km/h in 3.1 seconds, with 200km/h coming up in 10 seconds before hitting a top speed of 322km/h.