McLaren to Spend £1bn on New Plan

British Car-maker - McLaren have revealed plans for a £1bn investment to produce 15 new McLaren models and recruit an extra 500 staff.

This six year plan will produce 15 new cars and new trims of existing McLaren models and will push annual sales to around 5,000 cars, from just 1,600 at the moment. Around 50 % of the new cars that McLaren Build will have hybrid engine technology. McLaren Automotive, which uses technology from the Formula 1 racing team, was launched 2010.

Mike Flewitt, McLaren Automotive's chief executive, told the BBC: "This business plan confirms that McLaren Automotive will remain proudly and fiercely independent by continuing to build the world's finest two-seater sports and supercars."

McLaren are known for supercars, like the £1m hybrid McLaren P1, but continues to offer much cheaper models. One of those models will launch at the Geneva Motor Show - the £150,000-plus McLaren 570GT, which finds itself in direct competition with sports cars produced by Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.

Rather than being a racing machine, Mr Flewitt said “the 570GT is designed to give a more relaxed drive, and has been designed with a more comfortable suspension. It also has more luggage capacity.”

 

McLaren Create New Jobs

£250 Million of the new £1bn investment will go directly into research and development, Mr Flewitt announced. This will include work on an all-new electric concept car. Electric technology is growing fast, led by the likes of Tesla.

McLaren hope that the new range of 15 cars will bring down the age profile of a typical McLaren buyer, which is 40-plus in Europe. However, the typical Chinese buyer is in his or her 20s.

Many of the new jobs will be skilled engineering roles. Mr Flewitt said the market for good engineers is "undoubtedly getting more competitive." But he added: "Luckily, McLaren is an attractive brand to come and work for."

Nine out of ten cars that McLaren manufacture are for export, and the company has seen sales fall in China as the economy slows down.

"We sell cars into 30 markets, with 82 dealerships. As one market comes down - China has dropped this year and last year - other markets strengthen," Mr Flewitt said.