RE: McLaren: the inside story

[mollymoo]

DukeDickson said:

Probably just me though as I've never been able to get my head around the lack of reliability and butt-clenching costs of the more expensive end of the market. A 20k car being somewhat more trustworthy than a 120k one is always slightly confusing to my simple mind.

It's about development costs and how many units you can spread those costs over. 20k cars sell in the millions so you can afford to spend billions developing them. 120k+ cars sell in the thousands, maybe tens of thousands if you're doing really well. Unless you're VAG and working on the boss's vanity project the development budget is a fraction of what people working on econoboxes have to play with.

Alright it's not quite a new car company, but it's the first "volume" production model they've ever designed on their own. For the F1 they outsourced the engine and the rest they could just afford to throw money at. For 100 cars gold leaf in the engine bay is cheaper than re-engineering the exhaust, engine management system or redesigning the engine bay, but you can't get away with that in a car that's a fraction of the price. With the SLR they had the might of Mercedes behind them and a platform to build on so they could concentrate on the chassis and powertrain.

Considering how much they've done in-house it's amazing the bloody things work at all. McLaren's real downfall is how they bang on about perfection all the time. They set the bar for themselves so high they'd never reach it first time out, but maybe without such lofty goals they'd never have been as close. Maybe if they'd cultivated an image of a few guys in a shed rather than the world's greatest engineers building the world's greatest cars people would be as willing to forgive the faults are they are with a TVR or Alfa.

[zb]

You know what? To me McLaren's seemingly relentless drive for sterile perfection, (no matter the actually reality of this particular model launch), actually comes across as a lack of passion for an ideal; how a car makes you feel, and more a focussing on irrelevant minutiae. Not delivering perfection out-the-box is understandable, almost everything can be revised and improved, but some of the basic failings afflicting this model since launch are unforgivable.

Just to comment on the over-the-shoulder "Hi/Bye" moment in the story: I realise Ron Dennis is a very busy man, and you may take the view he delegates this task to others, but a couple of minutes with His paying customers, pull a notepad out, jot down their complaints, apologise profusely for the "glitches" and also that He needs to dash. What price that in how it makes your customers feel?

At this end of the market the experience can't be "just" better than buying a car, not even "much" better, not even different league better, it has to be a whole other sport better.

[traxx]

to be fair to RD it was also 6.30 on a Friday evening

I was really impressed both by the facility but also the Mclaren people we met

Here are a few other photos I took on the evening


IMG_8795 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8899 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8799 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8801 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8807 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8809 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8815 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8816 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8817 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8826 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8837 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8839 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8841 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8848 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8851 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8853 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8856 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8857 by Trax5, on Flickr



IMG_8859 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8860 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8865 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8881 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8884 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8899 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8900 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8901 by Trax5, on Flickr




IMG_8904 by Trax5, on Flickr



IMG_8907 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8911 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8913 by Trax5, on Flickr


IMG_8916 by Trax5, on Flickr

[Rich_W]

wotnot said:

In McLaren's case, not only have they made much of RD's OCD filtering down through the company but they have painted the MP4-12C as the car designed to be a step above 'lesser engineered' examples of the supercar breed. This means their car HAS to be virtually faultless in order to live up to the hype.

That's been my concern all along. Before the car was launched officially they were hyping it (arrogantly) to be a game changer. Inevitably that brings extra pressures and expectations that no company in the world would be able to meet.

wotnot said:

As for the boss, it sounds like he could do with a lesson in how to treat valuable customers with a modicum of respect. Did he not know why they were actually there?

TBH the article starts off about relatively disgruntled customers but does seem like they were just another group on the tour programme. I suspect RD just assumed they were people about to recieve their cars. Not the aforementioned unhappy types. It doesn't say if the current owners had any of their issues addressed in the article. So you do wonder.

traxx said:

to be fair to RD it was also 6.30 on a Friday evening

5-10 mins could have made a world of difference though. Unfortuantly as the CEO on his salary he should expect to lose 5-10 mins occasionally. But I suspect it was as I said above, he wasn't aware of who they actually were.

traxx said:

I was really impressed both by the facility but also the Mclaren people we met

IMG_8816 by Trax5, on Flickr

Who seemingly all sprint out the building at 6.30 on the dot I guess there's a Union at work there.



Not a Flemke (old Nogaro esque) Blue in sight

Edited by Rich_W on Sunday 8th April 18:28

[KevSeymour]

GFWilliams said:

POTW!

[monkey11477]

I got on a tour of the MTC last year and caught a glimpse of RD leaving in much the same way as described in the article. Strangely the tour guide denied it was him. It was the Monday after the European GP, which had been a poor race for McLaren.

[ess]

BelfastBoy said:

Interesting read, especially this bit:

"And then a very Ron kind of OCD geekery creeps in, a directive from above suggesting the factory floor should be 99m by 198m rather than the 100 by 200 Foster requested, Dennis having calculated the floor area of the tiles - including the 3mm of grouting between them - and worked out that this would mean none would need to be cut to fit. Six weeks was taken off the build time as a result."

Having done a stint at Foster and Partners architects, I find this remarkable.
The most fastidious design practice I've worked at.

Great article and lush pictures of the beautiful MP4-12C
Superbly understated, in a very British way.

[jmcc500]

Rich_W said:

Who seemingly all sprint out the building at 6.30 on the dot I guess there's a Union at work there.

What? So you expect the staff on a factory floor, who probably start before 8 and probably aren't on huge wages, to still be there after 6.30pm on a Friday night?

In my experience, there are many, many people at McLaren working hugely (unhealthily) long hours developing this and other products. To be frank, getting them to ease back a bit would probably be to the benefit of all concerned.

[monthefish]

Bat28 said:

As usual GFW, wonderful pictures

^^^this.

That chap is seriously talented.

[Rich_W]

jmcc500

I guess I'm just surprised on 2 fronts. I'd expect the "PUFO" atitude (Pack up, F Off) from British Leyland-esque staff. Not people of the calibre (and passion) that work on these cars. And secondly given McL want to build 4500 units a year is there not some kind of early shift, then a late shift? IIRC the new factory is underground so it's not like they would have noise restrictions for the local residents?

I'd imagine the development engineers who worked the long hours to develop the cars are probably still working elsewhere on that friday night too.

[Greg 172]

traxx said:

IMG_8904 by Trax5, on Flickr

I love that this picture looks like someone's got a dab of oppo on whilst in the factory.

[Zumbruk]

Have McLaren been taking lessons from TVR on battery location?

[Strawman]

Mid-engined unlike TVR's though, so battery under the front luggage compartment would help with weight distribution.

[edinph]

zb said:

You know what? To me McLaren's seemingly relentless drive for sterile perfection, (no matter the actually reality of this particular model launch), actually comes across as a lack of passion for an ideal; how a car makes you feel, and more a focussing on irrelevant minutiae. Not delivering perfection out-the-box is understandable, almost everything can be revised and improved, but some of the basic failings afflicting this model since launch are unforgivable.

Just to comment on the over-the-shoulder "Hi/Bye" moment in the story: I realise Ron Dennis is a very busy man, and you may take the view he delegates this task to others, but a couple of minutes with His paying customers, pull a notepad out, jot down their complaints, apologise profusely for the "glitches" and also that He needs to dash. What price that in how it makes your customers feel?

At this end of the market the experience can't be "just" better than buying a car, not even "much" better, not even different league better, it has to be a whole other sport better.

Pretty much what I thought. Yes, he's busy, but had I been one of those owners my money would be going elsewhere next time! Customer is king!

[tommy vercetti]

Mclaren do sound and look a bit too anal, you don't expect employees to have a laugh or two there, they take everything seriously, but at the end of the day they are a business. Lovely pictures by the way.

[Plainview23]

If I had to be honest, and putting my "debt hat" on, I'd be reasonably worried that this will push them into serious financial trouble. I really hope they've got their numbers spot on because if they haven't then they'll be snapped up by a foreign power the moment a cloud appears on the horizon.

[y2blade]

Fantastic

[y2blade]

Mini1275 said:

Great article.

I love the finish and attention to detail on everything that McLaren produce, it's just incredible.

The MP4-12C is my favourite Supercar currently in production.

One day...

I Agree with you Dan, The MP4-12C is the ONLY current Supercar I'd want to own.

[mikEsprit]

The factory looks like a futuristic movie's version of a car factory.

Also, while I appreciate that everything worked out far better for the construction of the facility if it was made slightly smaller, I'd be surprised if the better solution wouldn't have been to make it slightly larger. Sooner than later there is always need for more space no matter how efficient you are.

[monthefish]

traxx said:

to be fair to RD it was also 6.30 on a Friday evening

That's got nothing to do with it.

He should be at the factory 24/7 (or as near to it as reasonably possible) sorting the issues and leading from the front. His 'weekends' can come in 6 months time.