India has the Potential To Become a Factory For the World: McLaren In India McLaren has witnessed double-digit sales in FY23 with a market share of 25 per cent

British luxury high performance supercar-maker McLaren Automotive formally started operations in India in November last year when it opened its first showroom in Mumbai, operated by Infinity Cars. Till date McLaren sold about 20 custom-made units in India. How important is the India market for the supercar company? "India has a growing population and being an industrial nation it has potential to become a factory for the world. Booming entrepreneurialism, startup culture, strong IT, developing aerospace, make India a very lucrative market. Our focus is customer centric here and we are not chasing volumes," said Paul Harris, managing director – APAC and China, McLaren Automotive. McLaren has witnessed double-digit sales in FY23 with a market share of 25 per cent.

"From an infrastructure point of view, we have one facility in Mumbai, we are seeing infrastructure development here, maybe not happening at a pace that we may have seen in other Asian countries but it's definitely happening," Harris added.

The British carmaker is currently focused on penetration in Tier I cities. "Given the supplies we have and the wealth accumulation in the top eight to ten cities, this will be our focus area," he said, adding that the company is not immediately planning to open any more retail stores in India. "Our current demands are being fulfilled from the Mumbai outlet. It is not about developing retail infrastructure, rather it's more about having proper factory trained skilled workforce who can cater to the demands of customers. Currently, all these requirements are taken care of by the Mumbai outlet, so maybe in the future we can think of retail expansion but not immediately."

Staying connected with customers is the major goal. "We have got representation in every major city in India and we look after people in a very personal way whether we go to them or they come to us or they go to the UK or if they need a service requirement, we have a flying doctor arrangement. So we're very connected with our customer base and our potential customer base as well," he explained.

Talking about India UK Free Trade Agreement, Harris said anything that helps reduce taxation, especially for the limited number of products will be helpful for the customers as well as the company. "The connection between India and the UK from a McLaren perspective is very important as we are a core UK manufacturer, the agreement would bring positive business changes."

The current order bank for McLaren is good enough for the year and it approximately takes six to eighteen months to deliver a customized McLaren in India. Any sales target for 2023? "We are not driven by numbers as the experience of the customers matter the most. If the company wanted, it could have sold a lot more cars. As the world is reeling through the supply chain crisis, we too are equally constrained by it because of which it is taking time to build each car for the customer," he mentioned.

The carmaker recently launched McLaren Artura in India, priced around INR 5.1 crore (ex-showroom). It is the first model to have the new McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA).