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SHERIFF AIMING FOR HONESTY

May 23 - 29, 2012
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Gulf Weekly SHERIFF AIMING FOR HONESTY

Gulf Weekly Stan Szecowka
By Stan Szecowka

McLaren Automotive’s top executive Antony Sheriff climbed out of his sick bed and flew into Bahrain this week on a mission to listen and learn from the drivers who are among the first to own its dream sports car.

Nursing a cup of green tea at the InterContinental Regency Bahrain, he believes the personal touch makes all the difference and is confident he will get a complete and honest lowdown on the MP4-12C’s early performance from the people who know better than anyone.

“These are amongst the most valuable days I will spend in a year,” the company’s managing director said. “I’ll get to hear firsthand what is going well and what we can do better. In Europe we can meet up over lunch with customers but they can be a bit too polite. Here they let you know exactly what they think!”

Last week he took his first day ‘off sick’ from work since 1993 with a raging temperature as a result of a flu-like bug but even a croaky voice couldn’t hide the enthusiasm he holds for the sports car which has received glowing reviews since its launch last year.

At its heart, the BD100,000 McLaren MP4-12C features a revolutionary carbon fibre chassis structure, the Carbon MonoCell: the first time a car in this market segment has been based around such a strong and lightweight racing car engineering solution and the first time any car has ever featured a one-piece carbon fibre structure.

This key change in sports car design meant that the 12C was able to introduce new standards not just in handling, ride and outright performance, but also safety, economy and practicality in an already competitive sector.

“I like to be precise,” said Mr Sheriff as he checked his mobile phone for the correct data. “Precision is important,” he added. “As of Friday morning we’ve sold 1,320 cars.”

Despite a wobbly global economic outlook and Europe in financial meltdown, McLaren’s state-of-the-art UK factory in Woking is all set to deliver an impressive 1,500 MP4-12C cars to order this year.

Around 150 of them are likely to be snapped up in this region and that’s why so much importance is being put into building the brand and the MD’s busy four-day schedule taking in Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE.

This month alone sees new showrooms opening in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi and Jeddah in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. And, local dealer Al Ghassan Motors’ Moda Mall showroom will open for business later this year.

But glitzy showrooms are not as important as the after-sales care being lavished on drivers who have already parted with their cash.

The feedback is proving invaluable; already there is now a button that can be pressed to open the gull-winged doors alongside the unique tender stroking mechanism which some owners found frustrating. Similar tweaks to the car are being made such as an option to allow more detailed adjustment of cabin engine noise levels.

A healthy glow returned to Mr Sheriff’s cheeks as soon as he revealed feedback of the MP4-12C’s driving appeal. “It’s not just an object that sits in the garage – this is a car that was meant to be driven.

“It’s a known fact that super sports car owners drive an average 2,000 kilometres in the first year of ownership. Drivers of our McLaren I met in the US on average had driven over 4,500 kilometres in the first three months of ownership! People are driving their cars and loving it.”

The model’s success is not only good news for McLaren but also Bahrain as sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat owns a 50 per cent stake in the business and is a partner which Mr Sheriff described as ‘extremely supportive’.

So far there are 36 dealerships selling the marque globally with two more – Geneva and Stockholm – just about to join the club.

This newspaper revealed that McLaren has plans in the pipeline to produce a challenger to the Porsche 911 in the future and although Mr Sheriff would not be drawn, he said it was ‘self-evident’ that the company’s production facility would one day produce a range of mid-engine sports cars offering differing levels of technology, performance and price under the umbrella of its core values of innovation.

His responsibilities encompass the design, development and manufacture and distribution of current and future road cars.

It’s a job not to be sniffed at. The bad boys of Ferrari, Bugatti & Co. had better be warned, the raspy-voiced, sharp-shooting Sheriff’s in town and he’s taking no prisoners.
“You’ll see something new happening within the next 12 months,” he said.







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