What,Can and Should Mclaren be Doing About Protecting Resale

What,Can and Should Mclaren be Doing About Protecting Resale

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Discussion

Juno

Original Poster:

4,481 posts

248 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
As the Mclaren Hatfield post turned into another depreciation disaster maybe it would be good to have a thread about how and what could be done and suggested to improve the situation.

As the constant depreciation talk obviously upsets many on here then this should be a way to look for positive solutions.

I'll start

All cars ordered to customer spec,one offs,should stop the panic selling of unsold stock cars at discounted prices further harming residuals

Don't build 100's of rubbish launch spec cars that just clog up the system and in the main are NOT what people want anyway when spending £250k, build desire and want in the market place

Get the list price right from the start (closer to the actual transaction prices) and address the ridiculous option prices then residuals wont seem quite so bad

Your go!!!







anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
That’s a good topic, which should hopefully attract some positive and objective contribution. I know that the McLaren Owners Club have recently been in discussion with McLaren top brass over various concerns such as this. I will sit this one out as I’m rather biased due to already owning a 720.


Edited by mickpsu on Wednesday 8th May 20:49

sjc

13,883 posts

269 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
I’d also suggest they stand by their products. Give them a 5 year or longer warranty and show some faith in the quality of their own cars.
Doing that will take some of the guesswork and (perceived) leap in the dark out of buying 4/5 year old cars, gradually stabilising the values.Making more info available to the likes of Thorney as the cars get older will also help

RBT0

1,476 posts

118 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
As well as why Ferrari offers included servicing / maintenance whereas McLaren not, but still more expensive than Porsche (which doesnt include service/maintenance)

Re spec of cars, McLaren is clearly pushing up its production to achieve volume milestone, w/o considering that actually this will reduce value of cars because abundancy.

Point is, being a younger brand than Ferrari and Porsche, either they push volumes or need to accept low volume and lower profit.

Maybe they believe that pushing more cars to dealers, this will create more sales and more and more customers will get in the brand. Down side is cars are not keeping value, also due to quality issues.

Sarnie

8,025 posts

208 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all

Juno

Original Poster:

4,481 posts

248 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
I certainly agree with the above postings and the problems are pretty clear to see so the solution shouldn't be that hard to put into operation if you have the desire.

Dare I say it but as far as I am aware the the sales management of Mclaren has been run for some time by staff who have a previous career in volume manufacturer organisations and the outlook that goes with that segment.

Engelberger

509 posts

66 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
Nothing to add about depreciation. If you can afford one of these cars then you can afford the depreciation. Someone who cannot afford new can then benefit from your massive loss. I think they call that trickle down economics.

However, the reason for my post is that the reaction to one of these wonderful machines is that it is one of the few cars that turns heads even when being driven with some class and dignity.



Grabbed this pic in Brugge at the weekend. Just look at it. Cost is relative.

Not many brands can still do that. Plus, based on very limited experience of the Silverstone Classic McLaren owners aren't all weapons grade arses.


Juno

Original Poster:

4,481 posts

248 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
Engelberger said:
Nothing to add about depreciation. If you can afford one of these cars then you can afford the depreciation. Someone who cannot afford new can then benefit from your massive loss. I think they call that trickle down economics.

However, the reason for my post is that the reaction to one of these wonderful machines is that it is one of the few cars that turns heads even when being driven with some class and dignity.



Grabbed this pic in Brugge at the weekend. Just look at it. Cost is relative.

Not many brands can still do that. Plus, based on very limited experience of the Silverstone Classic McLaren owners aren't all weapons grade arses.
That does look truly impressive and purposeful

andrew

9,953 posts

191 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
Engelberger said:
Plus, based on very limited experience of the Silverstone Classic McLaren owners aren't all weapons grade arses.
you never encountered rambolambo/grbf430f1/derek/gary brownlow then ?!

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
Juno said:
That does look truly impressive and purposeful
Yep, hard to dispute that statement


RBT0

1,476 posts

118 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
No debate re cars are truly stunning, way better than anything on the market imho.

GRD 8

50 posts

65 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
sjc said:
I’d also suggest they stand by their products. Give them a 5 year or longer warranty and show some faith in the quality of their own cars.
Doing that will take some of the guesswork and (perceived) leap in the dark out of buying 4/5 year old cars, gradually stabilising the values.Making more info available to the likes of Thorney as the cars get older will also help
I agree. Part of the problem, for potential customers of second hand cars, is being put off by the uncertainty of the cost of maintaining these vehicles as they get older. As there are very few independent repairers and lack of technical information available for potential repairers, then most vehicles will have to return to the dealers for repair. This is fine while the cars are under warrantee, but i think its making potential customers very nervous when it comes to vehicles outside warrrantee. A possible solution is to make the initial warrantee longer and the extended warrantee either less expensive or more comprehensive. I believe that as the cars get older then to keep prices up independent repairers are a must if independent retailers are to be convinced to sell these cars.

Engelberger

509 posts

66 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
andrew said:
you never encountered rambolambo/grbf430f1/derek/gary brownlow then ?!
No. What do they have and will they be there this year?My experience of lambo drivers are mainly confined to knobs in London driving like Audi drivers on acid.

Rocketreid

626 posts

71 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
[quote=Juno]As the Mclaren Hatfield post turned into another depreciation disaster maybe it would be good to have a thread about how and what could be done and suggested to improve the situation.

As the constant depreciation talk obviously upsets many on here then this should be a way to look for positive solutions.

I'll start

All cars ordered to customer spec,one offs,should stop the panic selling of unsold stock cars at discounted prices further harming residuals

Don't build 100's of rubbish launch spec cars that just clog up the system and in the main are NOT what people want anyway when spending £250k, build desire and want in the market place

Get the list price right from the start (closer to the actual transaction prices) and address the ridiculous option prices then residuals wont seem quite so bad

Your go!!!




As mentioned The McLaren Owners Club are attempting to influence the hierarchy to listen to grass roots owners and also potential new owners. They are having regular meetings with them now and this may have some effect.

Unfortunately the Bahrainian investors/owners still want profits and that is a dilemma for such a young car manufacturer to achieve both profits for shareholders and deliver a reliable, sustainable product. The main issue has been the demand for Macs around the world has been very strong and the unfortunate constant model changes which has had a negative effect on used car residuals.

McLaren will succeed and many wealthy individuals won’t care greatly about losses but many ordinary folks will. A positive is there will be a group of people who will be able to get into a McLaren who perhaps would not usually be able to

With regards to pricing I think retail prices are not far off when compared to the competition although the extras are rather ridiculous. My 570S with Track Pack was over £17,000 more with not a huge amount to show for it !!!



justin220

5,331 posts

203 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
Engelberger said:
Nothing to add about depreciation. If you can afford one of these cars then you can afford the depreciation. Someone who cannot afford new can then benefit from your massive loss. I think they call that trickle down economics.

However, the reason for my post is that the reaction to one of these wonderful machines is that it is one of the few cars that turns heads even when being driven with some class and dignity.



Grabbed this pic in Brugge at the weekend. Just look at it. Cost is relative.

Not many brands can still do that. Plus, based on very limited experience of the Silverstone Classic McLaren owners aren't all weapons grade arses.
Car looks great but a pretty poor post IMO.

I'm sure you'd feel a lot better if your 720S hasn't cost you 50k depreciation. It's a good thread and we should be posting ideas how to avoid massive depreciation hits.

One for me is reduce the warranty costs. I don't understand how McLaren think £5k a year is acceptable. No wonder potential owners are put off.

The dealers should be supporting the used network. Buy in all the used stock and control the market. The used cars are clearly desirable as people are buying them. If McLaren dealers had all the stock they can dictate prices

They need to improve the perceived customer care. Personally I've had no issues but clearly others have. This rubs off onto potential owners and either reduces values or number of people willing to actually put their hand into their pockets. Any issues under warranty should be dealt with swiftly and efficiently. Like for like cars as replacements when work is being carried out

McLaren dont need to only match Ferrari etc, they need to be better

garystoybox

768 posts

116 months

Wednesday 8th May 2019
quotequote all
Rocketreid ]uno said:
McLaren will succeed and many wealthy individuals won’t care greatly about losses.
Whilst I agree with your points about Mclaren chasing numbers/short term profit for their investors, the above point makes absolutely no sense to me. I don’t know one single wealthy individual who doesn’t greatly care about losses. I personally think this is a risk to Mclaren in the medium to long term (losing some repeat purchases) unless something changes. Mclaren are also now selling more mid engined cars than Ferrari or Lamborghini which is great for revenue but the exclusivity is disappearing.
None of the above takes away from how great the cars drive of course.

MDL111

6,895 posts

176 months

Thursday 9th May 2019
quotequote all
Isn’t this mainly a UK issue for some reason (maybe relatively more cars delivered to the UK)?

Cheapest car I can find in Germany is 230k with 17k km on the clock and 2 years old - doesn’t sound terrible vs a list before options of c 250k from memory. It did depreciate by say 20k plus the value of options chosen of that hold period - not great, but not terrible I’d say.

As a comparison my FF was 180k after 11k km and 3 years (list of c 230k, incl options it was 330k)

Edit: it is 226k not 230k to be precise

Edit 2: and then (if I am correct) the answer might be to deliver fewer cars to the UK.

Edited by MDL111 on Thursday 9th May 08:00

Targarama

14,635 posts

282 months

Thursday 9th May 2019
quotequote all
Values seem to have fallen a similar amount stateside too.

I think this is a simple supply/demand equation. They are building too many cars for the demand and chasing production goals as someone has said earlier in this thread. Perhaps they are keen to get to maximum factory capacity of 5,000 cars (was told this on a tour).

Reliability is pretty good in general, certainly no worse than other supercar brands. As for warranty costs, in reality £3,500 p.a. is nothing in the grand scheme of things for someone who can afford a £100k+ car. Those who complain about it are not owners or are dreamers. Yes, it could be less, yes Mclaren could sell their cars for less new etc. etc. But we all know they punch well above their class across the board, no need to, they are selling anyway at the current prices.

cypriot

475 posts

98 months

Thursday 9th May 2019
quotequote all
I don't think there is any particular issue with mclaren... they are an 8 year old car company, still finding their feet. At the end of the day, they still only make less than half of what ferrari make in any given year, so they are definitely not making too many cars. I honestly think things will settle down in a few years once they have a clear model line up (ie. mid engined entry car, GT car, and then full on super car etc), and so the need to release a new model every year stops. Once Mclaren commit to specific lifecycles, like replacing a model every 5 years, then I think values will be a bit more solid.

isaldiri

18,412 posts

167 months

Thursday 9th May 2019
quotequote all
cypriot said:
I don't think there is any particular issue with mclaren... they are an 8 year old car company, still finding their feet. At the end of the day, they still only make less than half of what ferrari make in any given year, so they are definitely not making too many cars.
No they definitely are making too many cars. Ferrari get away with making over 2x the cars as there is sufficient demand for that kind of production numbers. There isn't anywhere near half the equivalent demand at all for a Mclaren compared to Ferrari.