I'm wondering how long McLaren will run their silver/red livery. They committed publicly to it for next year. But would it be a good idea from 2011 onward?
Yesterday the Merc SLS AMG went on sale with the deliveries starting in spring. The McLaren will take much longer with deliveries starting only in 2011 if everything goes right.
So a McLaren corporate livery supporting their own super sports car will not have any beneficial impact before 2011. But by then it could become an important factor for their marketing as would a strong corporate Logo. I'm almost sure that McLaren will be looking much different in 2011. They could be looking to support a metallic orange or decide to go to a basic green to play a national theme McLaren Britannica.
For Merc there is no alternative to the clean silver look with the three pointed star. They have such a tremendous history to play at that nothing else must dilute the message. Sponsors will probably appear mainly in black or grey. Perhaps they will select a third color like the yellow shield of Ferrari. The red of the old silver arrow numbers looks nice.