McLaren Opens Barcelona Location
Adding to its European footprint, the Barcelona location is McLaren’s first dealership in Spain.
With as much hype as McLaren has been getting for its cars, it’s easy to forget just how small the company is. We all remember the record-shattering McLaren F1 in late 1993, but what we tend to forget is that McLaren didn’t get back into the manufacturing game until the release of the MP4-12C in 2011.
They’ve come so far, so fast in the last six years, it’s hard to believe. When McLaren announced its new Barcelona location this morning, I was shocked to learn that it’s the company's first location in Spain, although it's the 21st location in Europe and the 10th country. The McLaren Barcelona site will be operated by Comercial Chelsea 1979 and will formally open in a new retail site at the end of 2018. Right now, the retailer will be selling from a temporary showroom in Les Cort. This interim site is close to one of the busiest streets in the city, the Avinguda Diagonal.
Commenting on the deal Eduardo Costabal, Dealer Principal at McLaren Barcelona said, “Comercial Chelsea 1979 is honored to be representing McLaren Automotive. We believe this is a very important and competitive market within the European region and that a brand with the prestige of McLaren should be represented. We are very excited to be able to start this project, a challenge that is a great responsibility and to which we will devote all our efforts. We want this new retail environment to both become the home for current customers and followers of McLaren and welcome those who have not yet had the opportunity to experience our products first-hand.”
This deal gives McLaren a Spanish footprint to add to its European exposure which includes Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Monaco, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. Now McLaren just has to cross its fingers and hope that the separatist movement in Catalonia doesn’t kick off a civil war.
