McLaren looks to Asia and hybrid cars to stay on track

By Joseph White
DETROIT, Dec 3 (Reuters) - British exotic sports car maker
McLaren Automotive will bank on expanded sales in Asia and a new
generation of hybrid cars as it steers toward a potential public
offering, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.
"We need to put more cars into Asia," McLaren CEO Mike
Flewitt said in a meeting with reporters in Detroit. Sales of
McLaren's carbon fiber and aluminum sports cars, which start at
about $200,000 in the United States, have fallen in the United
Kingdom, its largest market. Flewitt said that reflects
uncertainty over Brexit.
Demand in the United States and in Asian markets outside of
China remains strong, he said.
McLaren plans to open dealerships in Vietnam and the
Philippines, Flewitt said. "The next big ones are India and
Russia. We're not in either and probably should be."
Flewitt has said in the past that the owners of the McLaren
Group, led by Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund, are considering
an initial public offering by 2025. An IPO will likely come
after all parts of the group, including McLaren Racing and a
unit that markets technology, are generating cash, he said on
Tuesday.
Exotic sports car makers have a mixed record on public
markets. Ferrari NV RACE.MI has been one of the auto sector's
best-performing stocks, up 68% this year. However, British
premium sports car maker Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings
AML.L has suffered a 59% decline.
McLaren sold about 4,800 cars in 2018, and is on track for a
slightly lower number in 2019, Flewitt said.
An important piece of McLaren's expansion strategy will be
unveiled next spring - a hybrid car with a new architecture
under the skin. However, McLaren does not plan to follow its
rivals into the SUV market.
"We couldn't afford to do it," Flewitt said, adding, "it
just doesn't fit the brand."
By 2024, McLaren will have additional production capacity
coming online to increase sales to 6,000 cars a year - if the
company can hit that volume without sacrificing profit margins,
Flewitt said.
Profitability plays a role in McLaren's decision, so far,
not to develop an all-electric car, Flewitt said.
Eventually, the super car niche will go electric, but for
McLaren that will have to wait for lighter, lower-cost,
solid-state batteries to be ready for commercial use, he said.
"Nobody is out there making money with electric cars," he
said. "We can do what we need to do with hybrids."