Main man: George Biggs continues to oversee the sales and marketing operations of Australia, New Zealand and other markets in this this region, but also now adds mainland China to his area of responsibility.

MCLAREN Automotive has broadened the responsibilities of Asia-Pacific region managing director George Biggs to include mainland China.

Mr Biggs will continue to oversee the sales, marketing and aftersales operations across all major markets in this region – including Australia and New Zealand – but a restructure of McLaren’s China and Asia-Pacific business units has seen him take on an expanded role that now takes in the world’s biggest motor market.

His area of responsibility already included Hong Kong and Taiwan but will now include mainland China – previously run by Dan McElholm, who is leaving the company – as well as other key regional markets including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Mr Biggs joined McLaren in 2012 and has overseen the Asia-Pacific region for the British supercar marque since July 2016, rising from his previous role as head of sales and operations for the region – a position he took on in 2014.

He is credited with achieving growth of almost 200 per cent in the region over the past four years, with Australia among the success stories as new models have arrived and sales have grown – from 26 units in 2014 to 116 last year.

This year, McLaren sales have backtracked 11.6 per cent (or 10 units) to the end of October, which is partly due to limited production and delivery cycles. This year has seen the Senna and 600LT arrive on the Australian market, while a 720S Spider is anticipated next year, among other new models.

Announcing the appointment this week, McLaren Automotive executive director of global sales and marketing Jolyon Nash said that Mr Biggs had “developed a deep understanding of both regions and their customer needs” over the past two years.

He also said the restructure was carried out “to better exploit potential synergies and streamline communication”.

“This enlarged region is very important to our business,” he said. “It accounts one third of our global volume and encompasses a total of 11 markets and nearly 30 retailers, with more to be appointed during the coming years.”

Mr Biggs said it was a “privilege to be part of the next chapter of McLaren China and APAC”.

“As a brand, we have been on a fantastic journey over the past seven years and with ‘Track 25’ we have an incredible portfolio of products to bring to market,” he said.

“I am very much looking forward to witnessing McLaren’s continuing rise to success in this exciting and innovative market.”

Before joining McLaren, Mr Biggs worked for Deloitte MCS where he specialised in commercial strategy development. He previously worked for Volkswagen Group in the UK as a project analyst.

By Terry Martin

McLaren Senna at Motorclassica 2018