McLaren's wok culture: Creating beyond cookie-cutter curated experiences for customers

I'm sure you're already plenty familiar with the technical specifications of the McLaren 750S, the successor to the storming 720S. Not only is 30 per cent of the 750S new (over the 720S), power is up (+30hp to 750hp), weight is down (-30kg) and PCC III (Proactive Chassis Control) for even tighter handling makes its debut on this refresh model, which sees both Coupe and Spider models introduced at the same time.

More importantly, the occasion let us have a quick chat with Charlotte Dickson — Head of Asia Pacific, McLaren Automotive — about how the brand is faring in Singapore under Eurokars Supersports.

"We're very lucky with our partner in Singapore — Eurokars Supersports. They're a trusted retailer partner and we've just opened up the service in Indonesia as well with them," she tells us.

Charlotte continues, "The level of customer service they bring is exceptional, so that's very positive. Recently, the market has been difficult with the tax increases, but that's the market as a whole. Eurokars has already taken orders for the 750S already, despite the fact people haven't physically seen the car, which is fantastic. We should see the order bank grow a lot more once we have the static car and then even more once we start putting the cars on the road."

"So yes, Singapore is a very good market for us. Artura has gone well and I think there's more opportunity when we bring out the future variants as well. The market size is relatively contained, where it's a small island and you know there's only so much opportunity, but we're pleased with how the market share has been growing and I think it will continue to grow over the next couple of years," she says.

More importantly, the Artura represents a paradigm shift for McLaren as it sees a shift into two distinct groups of owners: OG McLaren fans (who want the fast, furious and hardcore sportscars) and customers who want to venture down the electrified sportscar route. "The strategy McLaren is taking is the right one, where we're catering to both these groups and I think that this is very important," she explains.

A big part of the Artura appeal is — as Charlotte calls it — its different driving 'moods', a nice change from the more prosaic 'modes'. "Customers who got their Arturas love it because it covers such a wide span of driving 'moods'. What mood are you in? Do you want to go superfast around a track? Perfect. Are you feeling calm and chill?

Put it in E mode. This is a really nice and important feature to have. We have the raw and aggressive supercars like the LTs, and now the Artura enters as a bit more of a lifestyle supercar… but you've got angry mode as well!"

In true motorsports fashion, McLaren demonstrates it can react dynamically to business needs, especially with respect to individual markets like Singapore. The ARF revisions mean it's now exponentially more expensive to have the cars delivered with options, as opposed to retrofitting the parts and accessories brought in separately, which attract just the GST component.

"There's an option target (pre-equipped from factory on a delivered car that attracts full tax impact) and an accessories target (brought in separately and fitted locally). For high tax markets (like Singapore), we lower the options target, but increase the accessories target.

We've learnt that if you can do it aftermarket, the customers will do it aftermarket and we want to encourage them to do it through the authorised route. Ultimately, we try to support the retailer because we understand the consumer is= sensitive to this and it makes absolute sense to be flexible," Charlotte says.

In fact, the brand has been putting more resources into its MSO (McLaren Special Operations) business for customisation, which goes far beyond the MSO defined items that used to be found on the options list.

She elaborates, "We have a team of people called the Bespoke Relationship Managers (or BRM for short). When a customer/prospect considers a project with MSO, a BRM is appointed as that customer's single point of contact for everything from digital renders, pricing, design discussions. It's important to have an intimate and personalised one-to-one service for the people who want to go above and beyond the basic specifications on their cars."

"Within Asia, we have seen the popularity in the MSO service growing. A lot more of our customers are now personalising their cars with MSO options and not just on the Ultimate Series cars either," she tells us.

The luxury segment isn't just about cookie-cutter curated experiences and off-the-rack solutions, because it also involves the nuances and little details that make it personal and relevant for the respective markets.

She says, "At the heart of it all, you have to be able to read the audience and we follow our retailer's lead on this. They're the cultural experts and they know specifically what works in their markets."

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This article was first published in CarBuyer.