Friday 5th January 2018

McLaren and Aston announce record sales

Nobody wants diesels but they do want Brit sports cars, as the latest results reveal

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2018 will be yet another busy year for both McLaren and Aston Martin: the former will embrace its first full year of 720S sales (plus bring the Senna to market), while the latter is launching the new Vantage - arguably its most important release since the original.

That both are going into this year off the back of record results in 2017 is remarkably good news then. The bald stats show that McLaren sold 3,340 cars and Aston Martin 5,117, with both driven by strong performances in North America.

For the McLaren, the majority of sales came from the Sports Series cars - 540C, 570S, 570GT and 570S Spider - which accounted for 2,119 sales, a small increase from 2016. Encouragingly many of those buyers are said to be new to the brand. Interestingly too, the 720S sold as well in the six months it was available last year - 1,221 units, to be precise - as the 650S did in the whole of 2016. Woking is now building up to 20 cars a day.

"With a strong order bank stretching well into this summer, it is expected that close to half of 2018 sales will derive from the Super Series", said McLaren CEO, Mike Flewitt. Don't forget that's in addition to the Ultimate Series cars all being sold out, and another 15 new products coming as part of the Track22 plan. Bright times seemingly ahead for McLaren...

Those Aston figures represent the first time since 2008 that sales have surpassed 5,000, Gaydon citing "sell-out demand for its DB11 model and special vehicles including the Vanquish Zagato and Vantage GT8" as key contributors.

Manufacturing for Aston is said to be at nine-year high, with retail sales up 58 per cent against 2016. Imagine where that will go once St Athan is complete and the DBX is in production (it's not far off either).

Andy Palmer added to the results, saying "We continue to perform ahead of expectations, both in terms of financial performance and in meeting our targets... Phase Two of the programme [Second Century] will be largely completed in 2018 with the introduction of the Vanquish replacement and production of the new Vantage."

Demand and expectations are high for both, so those after a new McLaren or Aston Martin could well be waiting a while. What luck that some are already for sale... This DB11 is £140K and in a rather nice spec, with this Vanquish S offering something sharper (and arguably more exciting) at £180,000. Finally, if you simply must have a 720S right this moment, be prepared to dig deep: this Launch Edition with Performance Pack is for sale at £288,895.

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This great news for both brands; despite the naysayers of cars like the Senna, the people who actually have the required folding have voted with their wallets. This is what it's all about - making money from product sales, not appeasing people on here!