| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Motorsport |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Headquarters | Woking, Surrey, England |
| Key people | Ron Dennis, Chairman of McLaren Group and Executive Chairman of McLaren Automotive Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of McLaren Racing |
| Revenue | GB£241 million (2005) |
| Operating income | GB£14.3 million (2005) |
| Net income | GB£12.3 million (2005) |
| Employees | 1,289 (2005) |
| Subsidiaries | McLaren Racing McLaren Automotive McLaren Electronics |
| Website | McLaren Group |
| References: Source: ICC Financial Analysis Reports | |
The McLaren Group, based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England, is a group of companies created by Ron Dennis, described by the International Herald Tribune as "a small conglomerate".[1] The Group was originally formed from the team established by New Zealander Bruce McLaren in 1963 and is now focused around the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula One Racing Team. The company hopes to expand its market from Formula One to manufacturing cars as it prepares to launch the successor to the McLaren F1, the McLaren MP4-12C. In recent years, the group has branched out to other precision manufacturing areas, such as motorized devices for the solar and wind industries.[2]
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Bruce McLaren started the Woking-based McLaren Formula One team in 1966. Teddy Mayer took over direction of the group following Bruce McLaren's death while testing a Can-am series car in 1970. Mayer subsequently lead the McLaren to their first World Constructors' Championship in 1974 with Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi, who also won the World Drivers' Championship that year.
In 1992 McLaren began producing its first road car, the McLaren F1, which had many similarities to its F1 car. In total 106 were produced from 1992–1998, and even though it has been out of production for 11 years, there are still few cars faster than the F1. Among those that are faster are the Koenigsegg CCR, Bugatti Veyron and SSC Ultimate Aero and the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport .[3] In September 2009 McLaren announced the successor of the McLaren F1 which was to be the McLaren MP4-12C. Dennis said that parting ways with Mercedes was a "win-win situation for both sides".[4] McLaren also produced the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren with Mercedes as a joint project. Mercedes presently owns 11% of the group as 29% has been sold back to the group.[5]
McLaren originally started as a Formula One team in 1966 under its founder Bruce McLaren. However three years after creating the team he died in a crash. The team was saved by Teddy Mayer who helped the team win their first Constructors' and Drivers title. After Teddy Mayer, Ron Dennis took over the McLaren Racing team and he has worked for the company ever since. However, at the beginning of the 2009 season, Ron Dennis handed over the F1 department to Martin Whitmarsh so Dennis can focus on expanding McLaren overall, and especially in the road car market[4]
In 1966, McLaren suffered with reliability with their Ford 4.2 litre engine, and only scored a point after changing to a Serenissima V8. In 1967 they tried 2 different BRM engines. For the 1968 season they switched to Cosworth Ford engines. These continued to 1983, apart from a couple of Alfa Romeo examples, and then the TAG-Porsche turbo came in. This was the start of the MP4 cars, and the first entire carbon-composite chassis.
Honda engines took over in 1988, and then in 1993 the MP4/8 had a Ford HB engine. The next year was a Peugeot V10, and then the Mercedes era began in 1995, and is scheduled to continue to 2015.
The team's first F1 race win occurred in 1968 when Bruce McLaren won the non-championship Race Of Champions at Brands Hatch driving a McLaren M7A Ford. Later that year the team scored its first Grand Prix win when Bruce McLaren took the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps. By the end of the season Denny Hulme had won two further Grands Prix - in Italy and Canada (the team's first 1-2 finish in a World Championship race). Emerson Fittipaldi won the F1 world championship in 1974, and McLaren also took their first constructor's title at the same time. The 1976 title was taken by James Hunt, and then there was a gap until 1984. Then, Lauda took the title, and Prost took it the next two years running. The team took the constructor's title in 84 and 85.
In 1988, the McLaren-Honda MP4/4 had a very successful year. Not only did Senna win the title, but the car won 15 out of 16 races, and, apart from just 27 laps, led every single lap during the year. Prost won in 1989, and then left for Ferrari after clashing with Senna. Senna also won the title for McLaren in 1990 and 1991.
The partnership between McLaren and Mercedes began in 1995 with McLaren choosing to use Mercedes engines. This partnership was to last 15 years because McLaren and Mercedes parted ways on November 16, 2009 as Mercedes had bought the debut-season driver & constructor winning team Brawn. It was re-branded as Mercedes GP. Ron Dennis said one reason McLaren and Mercedes parted ways was because of his "ambitious plans to turn McLaren into a car manufacturer." Dennis insisted that in the "21st Century to survive in F1 you need to have more than just a team". However Mercedes will continue to supply engines to McLaren until 2015.[4] It is reported that after that McLaren might be capable enough to build their own engines.
On November 16, 2009 Mercedes bought a 75.1% stake in Brawn GP and rebranded it as Mercedes Grand Prix. Mercedes will continue supplying engines and sponsorship until 2015 and the team's official name will remain Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. McLaren also said "The McLaren Group will become a fully independent stand-alone corporate entity" as McLaren is to buy back stock from Daimler in phases up until 2011.[6]
At the end of 2011 McLaren Group completely bought back the stocks from Daimler.
On 3 January 2000, Daimler AG (then DaimlerChrysler AG) exercised an option to buy 40 percent of the then TAG McLaren Group. Since 1995, Daimler had supplied British-built Mercedes-Benz engines to the McLaren Formula One team under the Mercedes-Benz brand. Ron Dennis and the Techniques d'Avant Garde Group (owned by Mansour Ojjeh) each retained a 30 percent share. [7] In November 2003 TAG McLaren Group announced it would change its name to McLaren Group and its associated companies would also drop the TAG name.
In August 2006 it was reported that Daimler was considering acquiring the 60 percent of McLaren Group held by Dennis and Ojjeh.[8] However in January 2007, it was announced that Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, wholly owned by the Kingdom of Bahrain, intended to purchase 15 percent from both Dennis and Ojjeh. The shareholding became Daimler 40 percent, Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company 30 percent, Ron Dennis 15 percent, and Mansour Ojjeh 15 percent.[9] On 16 November 2009, Mercedes bought Brawn GP and announced that McLaren would buy back Daimler's 40 percent share of McLaren in a deal which reported to be worth about £0.5bn.[4] The McLaren Group brought back Daimler's shareholding over a gradual process of two years,[10][11] before buying back the last shares at the end of 2011.[12] The shares were divided between the other shareholders, with the Mumtalakat Holding Company currently holding 50%, and Ron Dennis and the TAG Group holding 25% each.[12]
| Layout | Engine | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | |||
| RMR | V12 | F1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| F1 LM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| V8 | MP4-12C | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| FMR | Mercedes SLR | |||||||||||||||||||||||