Currently reading: McLaren confirms another record year in 2018

Woking supercar manufacturer bucks UK trend to sell 43.9% more cars in 2018

McLaren has announced its eighth consecutive year of increasing sales since its formation in 2010, going against a general industry downturn for 2018.

The Woking-based brand sold 4806 new cars last year, representing a 43.9% jump from the 3340 cars sold in 2017. News of McLaren’s success comes as the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) recorded a 7% drop overall in UK new car sales in 2018. 

Last year also saw McLaren sell its 5000th car in the US, the company’s largest single market with a third of its global sales. Sales in China increased by 122.5% on the year with the introduction of the 570S Spider and McLaren 720S. The Chinese market now accounts for almost 7% of McLaren’s global sales.

The British sports car manufacturer retained strong sales figures in the domestic market, with 49.2% more cars sold in the UK than in 2017, thanks in part to new dealerships opening in Leeds and Hatfield.

570s

In August 2018, McLaren rival Ferrari announced it had delivered 4591 units globally in the first six months of the year, and was predicting to roughly double that figure by the beginning of 2019. Full year sales figures for the Italian manufacturer have not been published, however.

Increased production rates form the basis of McLaren’s Track25 plan, through which it aims to build 6000 cars a year by 2025. The company hopes to be producing only hybrid models by 2024.

Other developments at McLaren over the past 12 months include the opening of the new Composites Technology Centre in Sheffield, the 15,000th car leaving its Woking factory and the expansion of its bespoke division, McLaren Special Operations

Read more 

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Felix Page

Felix Page
Title: Deputy editor

Felix is Autocar's deputy editor, responsible for leading the brand's agenda-shaping coverage across all facets of the global automotive industry - both in print and online.

He has interviewed the most powerful and widely respected people in motoring, covered the reveals and launches of today's most important cars, and broken some of the biggest automotive stories of the last few years. 

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EdBalls 8 January 2019

Need to ask..

..where does the article writer get his facts from as I am confused that SMMT data shows McLaren increase was 10.41% between 2017 and 2018 in the UK, not the massive increase reported in the article.
jason_recliner 8 January 2019

Great to hear

Well deserved success, from everything I've seen and read.

Peter Cavellini 7 January 2019

Stating the bleedin.....?

  Well of course the are!, the well off are inflation proof!,most are serial buyers, I think most Supercar makers are doing well, McLaren is the one that’s doing better than the others just now, these Cars aren’t made in there ten of thousands some like this new Brabham less than a hundred, most are spoken for before they’re even built and some never ge driven at all!, yes McLaren has had another good year, because they’re low volume and for the reasons above..