A Few Words with McLaren Group CEO Nick Collins
A Few Words with McLaren Group CEO Nick Collins
Author
Discussion

SSO

Original Poster:

1,530 posts

208 months

I recently had the pleasure of spending a few minutes with new McLaren Group CEO Nick Collins.

In summary, McLaren is in the middle of a vast transformation. The new owner’s ambitions for the organization are vast, and they have the financial resources to bring them to life. As the new CEO, Nick Collins, is charged with making this happen. It definitely appears he has the support and capabilities to do so.

It's going to be really interesting to see how this all develops.

mogg

355 posts

275 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
McLaren 'SUV' here we come smile

murphyaj

1,086 posts

92 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
While that is all well and good you could have said pretty much the exact same things about Aston Martin several years ago. And Lotus. And McLaren's last owner was the Bahrain sovereign wealth fund, who weren't exactly short of a few quid. I'm not trying to talk down either McLaren or CYVN, but a committed owner with deep pockets isn't enough on its own to fill me with confidence.

And yes, within a few years I entirely expect McLaren to be an SUV manufacturer that also makes sports cars, just like Lambo, and Lotus, and Aston. But hey maybe they'll make the only SUV built around a carbon tub, which is at least better than flogging a rebadged Audi.

Grey_Area

4,273 posts

270 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
SSO.

Any ambitions from McLaren to sort their dealerships out, all well and good having a great lineup to sell and wow the owners and public, but the network support imho is woeful.

WCZ

11,157 posts

211 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
keep focusing on lightweight aspects imo, at some point other sportscars will become so heavy that you'll really be able to have the market almost to yourself

ex-devonpaul

1,500 posts

154 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
Will this massive change including making customers come back because of the support network, rather than in spite of it?

SSO

Original Poster:

1,530 posts

208 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
murphyaj said:
While that is all well and good you could have said pretty much the exact same things about Aston Martin several years ago. And Lotus. And McLaren's last owner was the Bahrain sovereign wealth fund, who weren't exactly short of a few quid. I'm not trying to talk down either McLaren or CYVN, but a committed owner with deep pockets isn't enough on its own to fill me with confidence.

And yes, within a few years I entirely expect McLaren to be an SUV manufacturer that also makes sports cars, just like Lambo, and Lotus, and Aston. But hey maybe they'll make the only SUV built around a carbon tub, which is at least better than flogging a rebadged Audi.
CYVN's pockets are much deeper than Bahrains and it's being reflected in the levels of investment they are pouring into McLaren right now.

SSO

Original Poster:

1,530 posts

208 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
Grey_Area said:
SSO.

Any ambitions from McLaren to sort their dealerships out, all well and good having a great lineup to sell and wow the owners and public, but the network support imho is woeful.
Im sure that is part of the plan.

Origami

325 posts

2 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
Well I’ve been waiting 8 months for a passenger seat airbag sensor (under warranty) so any improvement would be welcome!

Amazing cars, but the support needs to match the engineering!

By contrast for my 34 year old Honda NSX I just ring up my local Honda dealer and the parts arrive promptly…(not that it’s ever broken down in 20 years of owning it mind you, not once.)

murphyaj

1,086 posts

92 months

Yesterday (10:21)
quotequote all
Origami said:
Well I ve been waiting 8 months for a passenger seat airbag sensor (under warranty) so any improvement would be welcome!

Amazing cars, but the support needs to match the engineering!

By contrast for my 34 year old Honda NSX I just ring up my local Honda dealer and the parts arrive promptly (not that it s ever broken down in 20 years of owning it mind you, not once.)
+1

Had a steering module failure earlier this year on a model that only went out of production 8 years ago, the car was rendered unsafe to drive and would have failed its MOT, which was imminent.

The response from McLaren was, in summary, "we don't have one in stock, we don't know when we can get one, we can't even give you an estimate, but it could be months". Fortunately I was able to find a used one and get it fitted by an independent, otherwise I could have spend half the summer with my car off the road. Totally unacceptable.

This is actually the 2nd time in 2 years something similar has happened; the other being a soft-close door latch that refused to report that it was closed and caused all kinds of issues, which again was on back-order for months. I adore the car, nothing else comes close for the money, but stuff like this has caused me to question my choice from time to time.

Edited by murphyaj on Wednesday 24th September 10:28

650S

69 posts

187 months

Yesterday (18:50)
quotequote all
I wonder what Mr Collins would say to that shabby customer experience?