Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
GulfWeekly editor Stan Szecowka became the first Bahrain-based journalist to visit McLaren’s state-of-the-art production centre where its new MP4-12C – dubbed the national sports car of Bahrain – is lovingly put together by hand by a team of mechanics wearing trendy Hugo Boss tops in a spotlessly-clean environment.
He also took the car for a spin through the English countryside before putting it to a performance test on a race track made famous by the BBC Top Gear team.
It’s like no other factory floor on earth and certainly dispels the myth that mucky mechanics in oil-stained overalls put motors together in miserable work-sheds decorated with dolly-bird calendars on the wall.
McLaren’s magnificent state-of-the-art car production centre is lovingly putting together the company’s MP4-12C sports car at a current rate of 10 a day with deposits paid up front to keep the team busy for many months to come. The company predicts it will support up to 800 jobs and manufacture around 4,000 cars by the middle of the decade.
The floor was spotlessly clean, the tiles were constantly being cleaned in one area by a man sitting on a polishing machine and there was no loud piped music blasting out from speakers.
But silence is not golden, conversation between colleagues was actively encouraged and the occasional purring of motors or spray of paint could be heard on the guided tour as healthy background noise.
The team spirit is clearly evident with new members sporting plain black Hugo Boss shirts with more experienced colleagues being identified by an orange piping added to the design.
There were six journalists in my party, split into two groups and amongst them was a writer for the South African version of Top Gear magazine. Ironically, race track sessions where the mighty stars of the English version of the TV show put cars to the test were part of the experience – but we’ll come to that later.
In a couple of weeks’ time the 1,000th 12C will be winging its way to a customer as the order book continues to grow with deposit-payers desperate to get their clutches on one as soon as possible.
This month alone McLaren have around 200 pristine vehicles completed but there will be no ‘rush jobs’ to cash in on the clamour for ownership.
The world may be witnessing a rotten recession but there remains a growing demand in the luxury goods market and, in particular, for what many motoring analysts have been describing as one of the coolest cars on the planet costing in the region of BD100,000 to put on the road.
“We pay obsessive attention to detail,” our tour host, operations director Alan Foster stated, as a dazzlingly bright light shone directly down on another immaculate machine which only moments earlier had witnessed not one, not two but three men (and me) using old-fashioned elbow grease to ensure it sparkled like a diamond.
The £40 million McLaren Production Centre was officially opened by British Prime Minister David Cameron late in 2011, as reported in GulfWeekly and McLaren Automotive initially began the year building nine of the new 12C sports car every day.
In total 35 global car retailers in 18 countries are now delivering it to first customers in the Middle East, Europe, the USA, Canada, South Africa and the Asia-Pacific regions.
Al Ghassan Motors will be opening a new McLaren showroom next to Bahrain’s Moda Mall shortly.
As an independent car manufacturer, McLaren Automotive says it benefits from a number of ‘extremely dynamic share-holders’, dedicated to progressing the development of the sports car range.
This includes Mumtalakat, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund with a 50 per cent stake, executive chairman Ron Dennis, the TAG Group headed by Saudi entrepreneur Mansour Ojjeh and Singapore-based businessman Peter Lim.
With McLaren’s place amongst the top performers in world motorsport seemingly assured, and a brace of successful engineering and electronics businesses also making a global impact from the attached McLaren Technology Centre, why was the step made into bespoke automotive manufacturing?
Mr Dennis explained: “McLaren’s first and founding principle was to compete successfully in motor sport and particularly Formula 1. But despite all the trophies and great racing successes, there comes a time when the maturity of a company and its future development depends on broadening its activities.
“We have long held the dream of building a range of innovative McLaren sports cars. Sports cars that take the raw elements of Formula 1 principles, processes and performance and forge them into a unique package that adds the requirements of quality, efficiency, comfort and reliability – traditionally opposing goals that I know we can deliver.
“Launching a new car company is a great challenge that is inspiring everyone at McLaren. The new 12C is now on sale worldwide and these are exciting times – for McLaren, for car enthusiasts and, just as importantly, for people who are passionate about technology, innovation and engineering.”
Taking the vision and turning that into an effective, profitable and world-class car company lies in the hands of McLaren Automotive’s managing director, Antony Sheriff, and the teams run by his fellow directors, Carlo della Casa (engineering), Mr Foster, Dick Glover (research), Greg Levine (sales and marketing), Paul Mackenzie (special projects), Frank Stephenson (design), Mark Vinnels (programme), Mark Wilson (finance) and Ben Wright (purchasing).
Mr Sheriff said: “With the 12C, we have designed and built a sports car unlike any other. Feedback from new customers and independent test drivers tells us that the comfort and ride quality enabled by the 12C’s Proactive Chassis Control system is a mind-blowing experience.”
Finding out just how much …was just a road and track journey away.
