McLaren is planning to have eight dealerships in China by early 2014 in response to the Asian market’s thirst for high-end cars, following in the footsteps of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bentley.
McLaren Asia Pacific director Ian Gorsuch told Bloomberg that McLaren plans to sell between 100 and 150 of its now-460kW twin-turbo McLaren MP4-12C coupes in China in the first 12 months following an initial opening of four dealerships by mid 2013.
The first four showrooms destined for Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu will be accompanied by four more in 2014.
The timing of the dealerships’ opening is linked to issues of production, with Gorsuch saying, “We don’t have enough production; that’s why we don’t have China from the start”.
McLaren has opened 35 showrooms across 19 markets in the past year, including in Japan and Singapore.
China’s penchant for luxury vehicles has seen it become Bentley‘s largest market and Ferrari‘s second-largest.