{"id":97856,"date":"2015-08-21T12:42:06","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T16:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=97856"},"modified":"2015-08-21T12:42:06","modified_gmt":"2015-08-21T16:42:06","slug":"mclaren-special-ops-ready-to-give-buyers-almost-anything-they-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2015\/08\/mclaren-special-ops-ready-to-give-buyers-almost-anything-they-want\/","title":{"rendered":"McLaren Special Ops Ready to Give Buyers (Almost) Anything They Want"},"content":{"rendered":"
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McLaren's Special Operations Unit helps buyers customize their vehicles to their wants and needs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When you\u2019re spending more than $1 million for a car, who wants it to look like your next-door neighbor\u2019s? Not to worry if you\u2019re talking about a McLaren P1. The maker\u2019s Special Operations unit will give you anything you want. Well, almost.<\/p>\n

The division was set up to help McLaren buyers transform fantasy into sheet metal \u2013 or more accurately, into the carbon fiber used for the bodies and chasses of vehicles like the McLaren and only slightly less expensive 650S. And owners have shown no limit to what they ask for, says Paul MacKenzie, the McLaren board member who oversees the customization unit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Last Word!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAbout 90% of P1 owners have ordered some level of customization,\u201d he explains, calling that \u201cabsolutely incredible,\u201d and noting that the work has ranged from special airbrushed paint schemes to extensive bodywork.<\/p>\n

There are some limits to what the Special Operations unit can pull off. Some proposed modifications would run afoul of government crash standards or at least would require putting a vehicle through a new crash test to validate its safety. But short of such extremes, the unit is pretty much ready to do whatever the customer wants.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The special ops team at McLaren can help buyers tweak their purchases, such as adding a special color.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen we started (Special Operations), we decided we wouldn\u2019t say \u2018no,\u2019\u201d explains MacKenzie. \u201cWe said we\u2019re not going to be the style police.\u201d Only the price tag might limit how extreme a customer might want to take things.<\/p>\n

In fact, what might seem a strange, even bizarre, request when working at the factory can seem positively beautiful elsewhere, MacKenzie adds, noting that one has to be willing to respect \u201cthe regional and cultural differences of our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Special Operations unit has been far busier than McLaren executives originally anticipated. When planning for McLaren\u2019s early MP4 12C model, the company estimated it would see about 10% of the cars go through Special Operations. In reality, the figure is about 26% with buyers primarily asking to modify color and trim, such as louvers and bumpers.<\/p>\n

(Buyers paying more for used cars. For more, <\/em><\/strong>Click Here<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Virtually every P1 undergoes at least some modification. At the other extreme, about 15% of the new 650S models have so far been customized.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get the quality right and relationship with the customer right, the price almost doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d says MacKenzie.<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span> for details about Honda dumping the use of prototypes in new vehicle production.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The high profit margin for custom works is something that carmakers covet. Virtually all high-end carmakers now offer their own version of McLaren\u2019s Special Operations unit. Daimler AG expects to see a majority of its stretched Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman models get some level of customization, and if that includes heavy armoring the price tag could readily top $1 million.<\/p>\n

Bentley and Rolls-Royce boast that they\u2019ll even match a car\u2019s leather or paint to a customer\u2019s favorite color, even if that means matching a shade of lipstick.<\/p>\n

(What are the 10 best car for teen drivers? To find out, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

One BMW customer came close to pushing the limits when he demanded a paint shade that came close to that of a tequila sunrise. He even provided his own unique woods to be transformed into veneer for his big 7-Series sedan. The customer made his money selling exotic wood from his home in Hawaii, it turned out, and that unusual paint color ultimately seemed quite natural driving around on the tropical island of Kauai.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re spending more than $1 million for a car, who wants it to look like your next-door neighbor\u2019s? Not to worry if you\u2019re talking about a McLaren P1. The maker\u2019s Special Operations unit will give you anything you want…almost. Details at TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97856"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=97856"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=97856"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=97856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}