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McLaren Automotive launch background

Ease of repair, low-cost of servicing, maintenance, and availability of parts are of paramount importance to the customer relationship and have been key targets since the beginning of the 12C project. McLaren aims to offer segment-leading performance here too. The principle being that a high-performance sports car should not just be a pleasure to drive, but also to own; a car that is efficient to run and own retains a high residual value and ensures its owner becomes a repeat purchaser.

Although McLaren Automotive's intense development programme and demanding production standards will limit any problems in service, the company has installed a comprehensive range of aftersales safety nets that are designed to ensure the ownership experience is exemplary. 

Technical Support Managers at the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) provide a solid base for this, but McLaren Automotive has also appointed a group of regional Aftersales Zone Managers who are following exactly the same training process.  They will be available 24 hours a day to go anywhere within their region to help resolve any intractable problems that might occur.  The next level of support will be the 'flying doctors' based at the MTC in Woking who will fly anywhere in the world if an issue cannot be resolved locally. The ultimate support mechanism, and one established for McLaren F1 owners, is that McLaren is committed to bringing a car back to its UK headquarters if an issue cannot be resolved locally.

McLaren expects an innovative combination of new technology and rapid diagnosis to deliver its aspirations for a world-leading level of aftersales support.

Three new market-leading diagnostic processes will form the heart of this service:

- Tele-diagnostics determine whether or not a car has an issue:

In the event of the car suffering from a technical or driving related issue, such as a warning light illuminating or an engine or transmission problem, the driver can send a detailed diagnostic message containing vehicle values and error codes from the car's onboard ECU's to McLaren, the nearest retailer or the local Technical Aftersales Zone Manager. Within minutes, the customer can expect a return call from a technical specialist to confirm whether or not the car has a genuine technical issue. The specialist can then advise as to the best course of action and this personal and expert service also prevents the huge inconvenience to a driver who has been wrongly informed that he should stop driving simply through a fault in the car's warning system.  McLaren believes this rapid and direct assessment is unique in the industry.

- Desktop Diagnostics determine from the MTC what that issue may be:

This saves time by centrally communicating how to resolve an issue before a retailer's technician tries to determine a fix.

Setting up a relatively small retailer network of an initial 35 locations from scratch allows McLaren Automotive's aftersales support team to develop a unique system whereby it can control each retailer's aftersales diagnostic tools from the MTC.

- Dynamic Diagnostics communicate how to fix an issue:

McLaren-developed diagnostics will deliver a 'customer symptom code' from a customer's verbal description of an issue. The code is assessed and compared by the same diagnostic tool that has also downloaded information from the car itself. This, again, speeds up the diagnosis by comparing the theoretical - from the car's own diagnostic feedback - with the reality - exactly what the customer has reported translated into the same digital language as the car's diagnostic systems.

Looking further along the ownership process, McLaren Automotive will also impose systems that ensure warranty claims are speeded up. A new pre-approval process, managed by the company's Aftersales Zone Managers, will give aftersales teams instant approval for warranty work.

Warranty and repair work in bodyshops also aims to be industry leading. McLaren Automotive will be supporting retailers in stocking one spare part of each and every component, guaranteeing that parts will be in stock at the dealer should a car need repair. This will speed up repair processes to ensure customers have their 12Cs off the road for the minimum time necessary.

Mike Sopp, Head of Aftersales at McLaren Automotive said, "Despite all the focus on development and production, and our aspirations to build cars that are as reliable, robust and useable as they are exhilarating to drive, we are not so arrogant as to believe that every single car will be completely faultless throughout its lifecycle."

"Owners will be involved in accidents, and some cars will require maintenance, so it is our ambition to ensure that firstly, our customers are treated better than others, secondly, we resolve issues more effectively than any of our competitors and thirdly, we get 12Cs back on the road more quickly than our competitors."

"We know that in the automotive business customers are, more often than not, more concerned about how issues are resolved, rather than the issue itself. Starting from scratch, with a relatively small retailer network planned, and with the technical support we have at McLaren, we have been able to develop brand new bespoke systems and devices that will support quick and effective communication with the customer and resolution of issues. We are not prepared to let poor aftersales support spoil the ownership experience," concluded Sopp.

Carbon at heart

McLaren's unique one-piece moulded carbon fibre-based MonoCell chassis offers a genuine innovation in the high-performance sports car market. Providing strength, rigidity, stability under crash impacts and a predictable form from which to mount key components such as the revolutionary ProActive chassis suspension, the MonoCell is far from just a contributor to weight reduction. It also provides a stronger and simpler solution to chassis construction when compared to the likes of aluminium, especially where repair is concerned in the event of an impact.

Claudio Santoni, McLaren Automotive's Function Group Manager responsible for the MonoCell said, "In the extreme case that the MonoCell may have been damaged, the damage is assessed by McLaren regional technicians at the dealership in conjunction with engineers at the McLaren Technology Centre.  Repairs are possible on sections of the MonoCell that are not critical for crash performance.  If there is any doubt over the repairability we will simply replace the MonoCell, rather than risking a repair.  One of the commercial opportunities that industrialisation of carbon chassis production gives us is exactly this; the ability to take this 'no risk' decision-making to our quality control. It is also, we believe, a clear advantage over aluminium and steel vehicle structures, which are more often repaired, but run the risk of retaining undetected weaknesses."

Aluminium crash structures, front and back, mimic the chassis design of racing cars and have been designed to soak up the forces associated with most front and rear impacts. These are 'bolt-on-bolt-off' structures and are therefore easy (and relatively inexpensive) to replace. Just as with the exterior and interior design of the MP4-12C, everything that lies under the skin plays a part in delivering a new type of sports car to the market.