McLaren Automotive delivered 100 cars to UAE customers last year, a 69 per cent increase on 2015, as it introduced more models for sale.
The offshoot of the Formula One Grand Prix team bucked the overall trend of declining car sales in the country.
New car sales in the UAE fell by an average of 30 per cent last year, according to Autodata Middle East.
The British supercar manufacturer only began producing its fleet of road-going vehicles in 2011.
Its Middle East sales jumped by 55 per cent as it debuted five new models in the region. McLaren unveiled its new, Dh4.47 million, Dubai showroom on Sheikh Zayed Road on Monday.
“The Middle East makes up 12 per cent of our global sales and the UAE is responsible for nearly half that number,” said Jolyon Nash, McLaren Automotive’s executive director for global sales and marketing. He said the UAE and wider Middle East was hugely important to McLaren with Saudi Arabia second on the list of biggest buyers. “We would hope to increase our sales by another 20 per cent in 2017. We have a launch at the Geneva Motor Show in March, its code name is P14, that will see a car delivered that costs in excess of Dh1 million and, we believe, will be a huge success in the Middle East.”
The UAE’s desire for luxury vehicles was underlined by McLaren as it no longer stocks its entry level sports car, the $150,000 540C, citing lack of demand.
Last week, Rolls-Royce announced that its Dubai dealership, AGMC, had become its most successful globally, taking the crown from Abu Dhabi. Bentley also recorded a global No 1 position in Dubai, posting a 68 per cent rise in sales for 2016.
“The Bentley dealership in Dubai was No 1 in the world for volumes,” said Karl Hamer, the managing director of Al Habtoor Motors. “The brand new Bentley showroom opened in September and we sold 83 vehicles in the past month alone. We have also seen growth in the capital, where we will be opening a new Bentley showroom in May and a new McLaren showroom by the end of the year.”
With luxury marques still offering growth in a slowing market, many dealerships will be looking for increased visibility.
“In any slowdown the last sector to slow, if at all, will be supercars because the rich are still rich,” said Bill Carter, the head of valuations and product manager at Autodata Middle East.
“Dealerships will be fighting for prime positions in the luxury segment because this is not a slowdown, it’s a correction. This is the new normal for car sales in the bread-and-butter segment so dealers will be searching for growth.”
ascott@thenational.ae
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