‘Indulge your senses’: McLaren center aims to cash in on F1, other events
Ahead of the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix the high-end automotive brand McLaren Automotive has opened an experience center on the Strip to grow its brand with fans and visitors.
The McLaren Experience Center, a 2,500-square-foot pop-up retail space inside the Wynn Las Vegas, includes a racing simulator that F1 drivers for McLaren train on, McLaren merchandise, a vehicle configurator that allows visitors to design their own vehicle and several high-end McLaren cars such as the Senna and Elva.
“Whether you’re a connoisseur of speed or an admirer of automotive excellence, our showroom invites you to indulge your senses and witness the future of driving,” the McLaren Experience Center website stated.
McLaren wanted to open a pop-up retail space Las Vegas visitors to help celebrate the company’s 60th anniversary and as a way to build connections with people that don’t own a McLaren, which are expensive and exclusive in nature, said Nicolas Brown, president of McLaren, The Americas. He said the company only produces about 4,500 to 5,000 vehicles a year and only 40 percent of these vehicles are slated to go to the U.S. market.
Las Vegas was chosen for the first McLaren Experience Center because of the Las Vegas Grand Prix attracting racing fans as well as other high-profile events that are set to take place in the city over the next few months, including 2024 Super Bowl, Brown said.
“There’s a lot of buzz around the city,” he said.
The McLaren Experience Center is set to close shortly after the 2024 Super Bowl.
The grand opening for the McLaren Experience Center took place in October. So far the center already received over 20,000 visitors and overwhelmingly positive feedback, Brown said. Based on the early positive feedback and sales at the space, Brown said McLaren is considering creating a longer-term experience center in Las Vegas, although no definite plans have been made.
McLaren is operating this center in partnership with Wynn Las Vegas and O’Gara, a luxury car dealership that works with such brands as McLaren and Aston Martin and has locations throughout Southern California.
Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com. Follow @seanhemmers34 on X.
