Middle East is a key market for McLaren as the company is expanding business by introducing new models in 2010. The British sports car maker has already started appointing partners in UAE,Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and  Saudi Arabia. McLaren wants to produce 1000 vehicles next year, 12 percent of which should be sold in this wealthy region. There is already a great market for supercars in the middle east, so McLaren seeks strong presence here.

Dubai: McLaren, famous for its Formula One cars, has launched a branch of its company in the Middle East to bring high-performance sports cars to the commercial market.

McLaren Automotive’s new range of sports cars will hit the markets in the first quarter of 2010, with an initial production of 1,000 cars, 12 per cent of which will be aimed for the Middle East region, officials said.

Though details of the new models will begin to emerge later this year, the cars will be mid-engine two-seaters. The pricing, though unconfirmed as yet, will be slightly higher than competing high-end sports cars.

Currently, McLaren Automotive is in the process of identifying retail partners in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The first appointment will come by the end of this year. Officials are looking for one operator per country so that large volumes can be handled by each.

Though the current market conditions may seem unfavourable for a new high-performance sports car, the new models will hit the market as it rebounds, officials said.

“This is the perfect timing, by pure luck. We did the development work during the recession, and will launch when the global markets are coming out [of the slump],” said Ian Gorsuch, regional director for the Middle East and Africa region for McLaren Automotive.

McLaren Automotive’s first model will also be the first from a brand-new company following the news in April that McLaren Automotive will be spun off from the McLaren Group as an independent company.

The company has for over two years been engaged in a programme to develop this range of high-performance sports cars and will remain at the McLaren Technology Centre in the UK.

The new range is not to be misunderstood as a “road-version” of its Formula One cars, but as a whole new range of high-performance sports cars, Gorsuch said.

via Gulf News