McLaren

Country

Parent

Subsidiaries

Brands

McLaren

Location

Headquarters and factory: Woking, Surrey, UK

Sales figures

Production:
2007: 275 units of Mercedes SLR
2006: 261 units of Mercedes SLR
2005: 615 units of Mercedes SLR

Introduction

McLaren Automotive (previously called McLaren Cars) has a modern headquarters / R&D / production facility at Woking of Surrey that many British sports car specialists would jealous. However, since its foundation in 1989, it produced only 2 models - McLaren F1 and Mercedes SLR. With its expertize in carbon-fiber construction and other racing chassis technologies, McLaren has very good potential to develop itself into a formidable rival to Ferrari, just like what its Formula One team has been doing for years. It just takes a good management to realize that.

Brief History

Motor racing has always been the core business of McLaren. Bruce McLaren started racing as a driver and then simultaneously as a team owner in the mid-1960s. By the end of that decade, he planned to produce a mid-engined road car named M6 GT. Unfortunately, the project never materialized following his fatal accident in 1970.

3 decades later, the famous Formula One team resurrected the idea of road car production. McLaren Cars was established in 1989 to realize a supercar project called F1. It was designed by ex-F1 designer Gordan Murray and employed a lot of unpreceding advanced features. Moreover, the lightweight machine was propelled by a powerful BMW V12 thus easily became the fastest car in the world. Though winning overwhelming acclaims, its high price and inefficient production resulted in just 100 cars built in 3 years. In 1996, after the 100th car rolled out, the factory was effectively shut down.

McLaren F1, F1 LM and F1 GT

In 1999, McLaren was asked by its motor racing partner Mercedes-Benz to develop and build its SLR supercar using its carbon-fiber experience. As a result, £300 million was injected into the McLaren group, including £130 million to be spent on the SLR project. In return Mercedes took 40% stakes in McLaren group. McLaren Cars was therefore revived. The SLR went on sale in 2003, but it was compromised in many areas and far less spectacular as the previous F1, no wonder its sales fell short of target.