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McLaren Automotive announces its Asia Pacific business plan

- McLaren Automotive underlines its commitment to, and future expansion in, the Asia Pacific automotive market
- McLaren Automotive Asia Pte Ltd announced as McLaren Automotive's Asia Pacific hub, based in Singapore
- Asia Pacific retail network outlined and future network expansion in the region confirmed
- Video regarding the McLaren Automotive Asia Pte Ltd available  here

McLaren Automotive today confirms that its Asia Pacific network will be managed from a wholly-owned McLaren subsidiary, McLaren Automotive Asia Pte Ltd, based in Singapore. The first three directors of McLaren Automotive Asia Pte Ltd are Ron Dennis, Peter Lim, and Greg Levine.

At a press conference today in Singapore, Ron Dennis, Executive Chairman, McLaren Automotive and McLaren Group, announced plans for the subsidiary and confirmed future expansion into the region.

Ron Dennis said: "2011 is a landmark year for McLaren. The new car company comes to life with dedicated McLaren retail partners around the world supplying the first 'pure' McLarens that are built in a brand new factory at our UK base. This is an exciting new chapter in our history, and success in the Asia Pacific region is vital to our ambitions. 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."

"Singapore is the natural location for our regional business. Strategically located with one foot in the east and one foot in the west, it is commercially vibrant and home to successful entrepreneurs and proactive business leaders with a 'can do' attitude and an interest in sports cars. We have enjoyed racing success here in the past and I am confident that the region will also prove to be hugely influential in the future for McLaren Automotive."

McLaren Automotive Asia Pte Ltd

McLaren Automotive Asia Pte Ltd will be responsible for all of McLaren Automotive's regional operations throughout its Asia Pacific network. This includes importation, distribution, logistics, sales, marketing, technical support and financial services for McLaren's range of high-performance sports cars.

The wholly-owned McLaren subsidiary will be based in Singapore with an initial team of around 10 McLaren Automotive employees managing retailers in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. McLaren Automotive confirmed that the Asia Pacific regional retail network at launch will consist of five dedicated and experienced automotive retailers: McLaren Hong Kong - Sime Darby; McLaren Osaka - Hakko Group; McLaren Tokyo - MT International; McLaren Singapore - Wearnes Automotive; McLaren Sydney - Trivett.

The initial five McLaren retailers are due to open towards the end of 2011 and already hold on average around 18 months of orders for the company's first 'pure' McLaren sports car, the McLaren MP4-12C.

Future expansion into the region is anticipated, but will be conservative and strategic, aimed at supporting excellent returns for retail partners that generates a market-leading ownership experience for McLaren's customers. Initial plans are under consideration for expansion into mainland China.

Ron Dennis commented on the market potential for McLaren in the region: "History suggests that McLaren has a strong future in the region: we have a huge fan base through consistent Formula 1 success here. In fact, since Lewis joined the team in 2007, we have won races in the Asia Pacific region every season. On the road, around a quarter of all existing McLaren F1 road cars have their homes in the Asia Pacific region."

"More importantly though for our new automotive business, the region shows huge potential both economically and demographically. GDP annual growth rates are expected to outperform all other global regions, whilst the growth in numbers of high net worth individuals in the region is world-leading, especially as 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."

McLaren Automotive

It was announced in August that Peter Lim had invested a significant shareholding in McLaren Automotive, joining the executive board with immediate effect and bringing to the company a wealth of entrepreneurial experience and influential knowledge of the Asia Pacific business environment. McLaren Automotive continues to assess further potential investors who share its business aspirations and ambition to become the world's most iconic sports car company.

McLaren Automotive is based at the McLaren Group's MTC (McLaren Technology Centre) headquarters in Woking, England.  The company's first high-performance sports car, the McLaren MP4-12C, went on sale in July in Europe. An initial global network of 35 car retailers in 19 countries will open through the second half of 2011, selling and distributing around 1,000 cars globally in the network's first full year of trading.

Around 18 months of orders for the MP4-12C have already been confirmed, and the retail network is due to double over the coming years as McLaren progresses towards producing its model range of around 4,000 high-performance sports cars annually. These will be manufactured in the brand new £40million MPC (McLaren Production Centre) that began production at the company's UK headquarters in July.