McLaren Investment Up but profits are down

Published Date: 22nd Jul 2016

McLaren’s profit for 2015 fell to just £2.8million as the famous F1 and car maker continued new investment and planning for the road ahead.

McLaren are to invest heavily in research and development and a strategic speedy plan for 15 new cars by 2022. This comes straight off the back of a record year in sales as 1,654 new cars were sold but rising development costs from £91.9 million to £123.9 million saw most of the sales profit eaten away.

That means that R&D costs rose up by more than 30% a huge jump over the year before and bigger still when it’s compared to other supercar manufacturers.

The employee count has also risen by 16% from 1,283 to 1,492 people in a move described by CEO Mike Flewitt as “critical… in the development of McLaren Automotive”.

The recent release of the new 570S and later on came the 570GT is the main reasoning behind the jump in staffing levels to meet the demand of these new models and drive them onwards as Mike goes on to say the series “will be pivotal in developing our sales volumes from the 2015 levels of 1,600 to nearly triple that number by 2020”. McLaren expect sales to double up in 2016 also

So What’s Behind The McLaren Track 22 Stategy?

Over the next six years of the Track 22 business plan, McLaren are set to invest 20-25% of its turnover back into R&D.

Half of the new cars planned will feature an electric hybrid system like current McLaren P1 and while talking about the P1 there could be a brand new all electric version on the cards for the future.

New production from McLaren automotive will also mean more jobs, 250 in fact. So the employee count will grow to around 1,750 to cater for the new models with new openings in the future for the production line and logistics at the Woking headquarters.

A new investor has already been revealed as the chairman of McKcal Ltd and they have seen an investment of £49 million for a 6.3% stake in McLaren. The chairman is already a well known customer for McLaren owning two P1s and is a common sight at McLarens track days.