The first of McLaren’s 35 dealerships set to open in 2011 opens its doors tomorrow in London’s prestigious One Hyde Park. It will be the first of 35 dealerships McLaren will open this year around the world.

Although the MP12-4C is not McLaren’s first foray into street legal super cars it will offer more than four times the sales and service support than it did with the F1 and its eight worldwide dealerships. This time instead of flying a technician to the owner of the car or service center McLaren claims it “is stocking its retail network with a spare of every serviceable part for the MP4-12C.” McLaren calls it “its ‘pit stop’ service concept that ensures fast and efficient repair.”

Good thing too because the MP4-12C is the first in a full lineup of carbon-fiber based sports cars McLaren has planned – all with higher production numbers than the F1. Production for the MP4-12C alone is planned for 1,000 units just this year – significantly higher than the F1’s production run of 106 cars over a seven year (1992-1998) period. McLaren plans to increase total production to 4,000 cars per year by mid decade when their full model lineup is complete.

Two more British dealerships will open soon: Manchester on June 30 and Birmingham on July 5. By year’s end McLaren’s dealerships will have 35 locations in 19 countries:

• Europe: UK (Birmingham, London, Manchester); Germany (Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich); Benelux (Brussels); France (Monaco, Paris); Italy (Milan); Spain (Madrid), Switzerland (Zürich)

• North America: Canada (Toronto); USA (Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Newport Beach, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tampa)

• Middle East / South Africa: UAE (Abu Dhabi, Dubai); Qatar; Saudi Arabia (Jeddah, Riyadh); Bahrain; South Africa (Johannesburg)

• Asia Pacific: Hong Kong; Singapore; Australia (Sydney); Japan (Tokyo, Osaka)

Achtung! Achtung! :   BMW and Mercedes-Benz may also be “throwin’ a shrimp on the barbi” and saying “G’day mate!” when they join the V8 Supercar series, giving Holdens and Fords in Australia a run for their money in 2012.

So far, Mercedes’ performance division, AMG have been in serious talks about entering the championship, and an announcement may be made as soon as the Melbourne Grand Prix next month, where they will also display their V8 AMG customer ride car.

Although both sides have denied the rumours, the Australian V8 Supercar franchise is actively seeking to hold their races at more upmarket venues, with more upmarket marques, thereby attracting more…well, upmarket viewers. This is helped by the race series’ overhaul on their regulations which allows for more sophisticated V8 engines.

Such activities have been triggered due to a slump in sales for Falcons and Commodores throughout Australia. Thus far, 12 of the 29 cars on the grid receive direct support from Ford and Holden.