Not chasing sales, focus on solid customer experience: McLaren India
McLaren officially began operations in India in November last year when it opened its first showroom in Mumbai. This showroom is operated by Infiniti Cars. McLaren will sell about 20 units in India in 2022. All supercars are made to order.
The British automaker does not plan to open more retail stores in India this year. “In our department, it’s about expertise, it’s not about having multiple (store) representations in multiple locations. If we focus in one area, we can improve on that,” Harris told Business Standard in an interview.
He said the company is working on two approaches. From a sales point of view, the company can take the customer to the UK where they can have experience, or the company will go to the customer by car. From a service point of view, the company can go and do the service locally, or the car is taken to a Mumbai showroom in extreme cases.
Harris noted, “It’s clearly reached a breaking point where these methods may not be sustainable. But we’re nowhere near that in India. So, for now, it’s just Mumbai (showroom)”.
Harris said the indications — the Indian economy, the company’s order bank, etc. — of the company’s growth in the Indian market are strong. “We expect strong growth in 2023,” he added. McLaren launched its Artura hybrid supercar in India on Friday.
Does the company have any sales target in India for 2023? “We’re not too fascinated by the numbers because it’s more about the customer experience. It’s about uniqueness. To make each car unique to the customer, it takes time and involves a lot of back and forth with the customer,” Harris stated.
He noted that this business relationship can not be on a large scale. “It has to be in a unique way. We’re not chasing numbers,” he added.
Lalit Choudary, Chairman and Managing Director of Infinity Cars, said that if the company wanted, it could have sold more cars. “It’s not about quantities. It’s about facing the reality of supply constraints and the time it takes to build each car for the customer,” he noted.
McLaren falls into the category of high-end sports cars. Chowdary pointed out that there are two types of brands operating in this sector in India.
This segment, which does not include luxury SUVs, has cars priced over Rs 4 crore. “In this segment, about 85 cars were sold in 2022 in India. We had about 25 percent share,” Chowdary said.