McLaren Technology Group

McLaren Technology Group Limited
Conglomerate
Industry Formula 1, Motorsport, Electronic Manufacturing, Aviation, Food Technology, High Performance Car Manufacturing, Calibration Software, Restaurants, Technology Design & Manufacture, TV Animation, Solar & Wind Industries, Private Jets Energy, Catering, Racing Bicycles, Health care Research, Biomechanics, Clinical Data (with GSK), Sport Equipment, Chlothing & Accessories, Airport Ticket Gates and GT3 Racing.
Former:
DVD Players, CD Players, Audio Equipment, Consumer Healthcare Manufacturing
Founded 1985[1]
Founder Ron Dennis
Headquarters Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom
Key people
 Ron Dennis, Chairman and CEO of McLaren Technology Group and McLaren Automotive
Ian Rhodes, CEO of McLaren Applied Technologies
Jonathan Neale, CEO of McLaren Racing
Revenue Increase GB£ 268 million (2013)
Increase GB£ 22.5 million (2013)
Owner Ron Dennis (25%)
TAG Group (25%)
Mumtalakat Investment Co (Bahrain Government) (50%)
Number of employees
 Increase 5289 (2012)
Subsidiaries McLaren Racing
McLaren Automotive (41%)
Lydden Circuit
Greyscape Ltd. (Aviation)
McLaren Electronics
Absolute Taste
McLaren Technology Centre
McLaren Animation
Website McLaren Technology Group
Footnotes / references
Source: ICC Financial Analysis Reports

The McLaren Technology Group, based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom, is a group of companies created by Ron Dennis, described by the International Herald Tribune as "a small conglomerate".[2] McLaren Group was formerly known as TAG McLaren Group as TAG Group (Mansour Ojjeh) was the majority owner, through re named in 2003, then it was renamed in 2015 to The McLaren Technology Group due to its growing businesses in the technology industry. The Group was originally formed from the team established by New Zealander Bruce McLaren in 1963 and is now focused around the McLaren Honda Formula One Racing Team. The company hopes to expand its market from Formula One to manufacturing cars with its launch of the successor to the McLaren F1, the McLaren P1. In recent years, the group has branched out to other precision manufacturing areas, such as motorized devices for the solar and wind industries.[3] The company now consists of a number of different businesses including Food (Absolute Taste) and now creates an animated children's series named Tooned, the first for McLaren Animation. For three years, McLaren Group's technology subsidiary McLaren Applied Technologies works closely with GlaxoSmithKline (makers of Sensodyne, Boost etc.) Together they also plan to open a new building at the McLaren Technology Centre, called the McLaren-GSK Centre for Applied Technology.

Beginnings of McLaren

Bruce McLaren started Bruce McLaren Motor Racing in 1963 and the team first entered Formula One in 1966.[4] 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. McLaren Group and all of its companies were later formed by Ron Dennis CBE, these include a diverse number of technology based companies including TAGMcLaren Audio, a high end manufacturer of DVD Players and Audio Equipment (Now sold to IAG), Absolute Taste, a London based catering company notably for numerous celebrites including John Terry and Jenson Button, McLaren Automotive, a high end luxury sports car manafactuer but a separate company from he Group, Lydden Circuit, a Kent racing circuit and McLaren Applied Technologies- known for its sporting equipment used by Mark Cavendish, Lizzie Arnold and others in numerous sports including bicycles and skeletons, it also manufacturers modern solutions such as the electronics at Heathrow Airport and GlaxoSmithKline plc's vaccine and drug company and formley its consumer healthcare division which manafactuers Horlicks, Aquafresh, Boost, Gaviscon etc.

Road car manufacturing

Main article: McLaren Automotive

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 15 years, there are still few production cars with a higher top speed than the F1. Among those that are faster are the Koenigsegg Agera R, Bugatti Veyron, SSC Ultimate Aero,[5] Bugatti Veyron Super Sport and the Koenigsegg One:1. In September 2009 McLaren announced the successor of the McLaren F1 which is to be the upcoming McLaren P1. Dennis said that parting ways with Mercedes was a "win-win situation for both sides".[6] McLaren also produced the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren with Mercedes as a joint project. Mercedes at this time owned 11% of the group as 29% has been sold back to the group. Now Mercedes has left the McLaren Group owners, selling their remaining 29%.[7]

Formula One

Main article: McLaren

McLaren originally entered Formula One in 1966 under its founder Bruce McLaren. However in 1970 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[6]

The first period of F1 operation (1966–1994)

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 two 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.

F1 partnership with Mercedes (1995–2009)

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 16 November 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 continued to supply engines to McLaren until 2014.[6]

Post-Mercedes era (2009–present)

On 16 November 2009 Mercedes bought a 75.1% stake in Brawn GP and rebranded it as Mercedes Grand Prix. Mercedes continued supplying engines and sponsorship until 2014. 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.[8]

At the end of 2011 McLaren Group completely bought back the stocks from Daimler.

Vodafone's title sponsorship deal, which began in 2007, ended at the finish of the 2013 season. In 2014, the team's official title was McLaren Mercedes. In 2015, the team, under a new partnership with car manufacturer Honda changed its official title to McLaren Honda.

Animation (TV)

McLaren Group's current project that was formed in 2012, Tooned is an animated cartoon starring Jenson Button, Kevin Magnussen and comedian Alexander Armstrong. Formerly including past McLaren drivers such as Sergio Pérez and Lewis Hamilton. It is aired on Sky Sports F1 before the start of each Formula 1 race. The first season, which starred former McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton aired from the 2012 British Grand Prix onwards. The second season aired from the 2013 British Grand Prix onwards. All episodes can be watched on McLaren's YouTube channel and the Sky Sports F1 website any time after the premiere. The episodes are a little more than 3 minutes long. On 16 May 2014 it was announced on McLaren's YouTube Channel that a season 3 was in progress. It was announced when Jenson Button was shown a picture of his 2014 team mate Kevin Magnussen's character on Tooned and also added that 'the production of Season 3 was going well'.

Food technology

Main article: Absolute Taste

Although McLaren Group has no ownership or control over Absolute Taste, McLaren Group's owner Ron Dennis is the majority shareholder in Absolute Taste and therefore the companies work closely together. Absolute Taste was formed in 1997 by Ron Dennis and Lyndy Redding. Lyndy had just graduated from Tante Marie with a diploma and produced a 3-page business proposal to Ron Dennis to start a catering company. Ron Dennis owns a 55% interest.[9] Initially centred on providing hospitality for the VIP guests of the Team McLaren around the world, and for employees at the McLaren headquarters, the company grew and developed a separate identity.

Absolute Taste provided the catering for David and Victoria Beckham's 2006 FIFA World Cup send-off party, based on Gordon Ramsay's menu.[10]

Absolute Taste catered Nelson Mandela’s 90th Birthday party[11] and Chelsea FC footballer John Terry's wedding.[12]

In 2003, Absolute Taste Inflight was formed. It is a 24-hour, 365-day operation catering for private jets. It began at the suggestion of some McLaren employees and was vetted for a year on a shareholder's own plane. Six vans now deliver pre-prepared gourmet meals to airports all over the South of England.[9]

The company's tenth anniversary happened in 2008, when it announced a partnership with Gordon Ramsay Holdings. "Gordon Ramsay by Absolute Taste" is an entirely bespoke service in which Absolute Taste works with Gordon and his team to produce food from his restaurants for outside events. Gordon and Lyndy had met previously at Aubergine, Ramsay's restaurant, when a pastry chef had left the clear paper on Lyndy's chocolate fondant and Ramsay apologized to her. They met again at a Formula One race when Ramsay was McLaren's guest.[13]

Technology

McLaren Applied Technologies is the main subsidiary of McLaren Group, known for making the bike raced in the Le Tour de France by Mark Cavendish, the gold winning bobsled as used by Lizzy Yarnold and more. In formula one, McLaren Applied Technologies is the official ECU (Engine Control Unit) supplier to all teams, the official electronics supplier to all NASCAR teams and also helps develop medicines and drugs made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). McLaren have also developed some household brands with GSK, including Aquafresh, Sensodyne, Boost, Horlicks, NiQuittin and more.

Other subsidiaries

McLaren Cars Ltd is a dormant subsidiary of McLaren Group, which was used to develop road going vehicles, including the McLaren F1 and in conjunction with Mercedes-Benz produced the SLR McLaren. The assets of this company were later spun out into a new separate company, McLaren Automotive, which is not a subsidiary of McLaren Group. This enabled new investors to be brought in beside the existing McLaren Group owners, including Singapore billionaire Peter Lim, to enable the significant investment required to develop the McLaren MP4-12C. When McLaren Group was sold back to Ron Dennis, this also enabled Mumtalakat to retain a 50% share in the automotive company.

TAGMcLaren Audio

TAGMcLaren Audio was a home electronics company, including CD players, DVD players and HiFi systems. It uses the TAG name as McLaren Group was under TAG ownership at the time of its formation. It was formed when McLaren purchased the failing home electronics brand Audiolab, it then changed its name to TAGMcLaren Audio. McLaren Group sold its audio and visual company to International Audio Group which later changed its name back to Audiolab.

Ownership

On 3 January 2000, Daimler AG (then DaimlerChrysler AG) exercised an option to buy 40 percent of the 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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17] 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.[6] The McLaren Group brought back Daimler's shareholding over a gradual process of two years,[18][19] before buying back the last shares at the end of 2011.[20] The shares were divided between the other shareholders.[20] Ron Dennis planned to buy out Mansour Ojjeh's quarter ownership in McLaren. The current owners are:

Because Ron Dennis is a close business partner to Mansour Ojjeh, they are sometimes known as the Ron Dennis & Mansour Ojjeh Consortium or sometimes stated to simply own 25% each.

In August 2014 it was announced by McLaren Group that Martin Whitmarsh has officially left all of his operations as Ron Dennis re-took control of McLaren in January, he removed Whitmarsh from CEO of McLaren Racing, McLaren Automotive, McLaren Group and other smaller subsidiaries. Dennis is again CEO of all McLaren companies, he also hired Jonathan Neale as Interim CEO of McLaren Racing whilst Dennis finds a permanent CEO, though it is thought he will become CEO.

On 12 December 2014, a McLaren spokesperson announced Ron Dennis' new plan to buy the Mumtalakat share of 50%. This would mean he owns the majority share of 75% whilst his business partner Mansour Ojjeh would keep 25 through his company, TAG Group.Share purchase agreements (SPAs) were apparently signed in August 2014 and announced in December. Currently The Mumtalakat Investment Company owns 50% as Dennis' new shares will not take effect until mid 2015.

The Mumtalakat Investment Company will retain half of the automotive company, McLaren Automotive.

References

  1. ↑ Company details for McLaren Group Limited at Companies House
  2. ↑ Spurgeon, Brad (2000-06-24). "TAG McLaren Group Revs Up Off Track". International Herald Tribune. p. 9.
  3. ↑ Pete Engardio (13 February 2010). "In Detroit, Is There Life After the Big 3?". New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  4. ↑ "McLaren celebrates 50th anniversary". mclaren.com. 2 September 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  5. ↑ "SSC Aero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Benson, Andrew (2009-11-16). "BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Mercedes takes over Brawn F1 team". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  7. ↑ "McLaren buy back bulk of Mercedes shares - The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 2010-03-18. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
  8. ↑ Nesha starcevic (2009-11-17). "Mercedes takes over Brawn GP - Taiwan News Online". Etaiwannews.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lyndy Redding teams up with Gordon Ramsay to buy Tante Marie cookery school Caterersearch.com. Tom Vaughan. Thursday 31 July 2008.
  10. ↑ Wedding food: how to have your perfect day on a plate. The Times. 23 May 2009.
  11. ↑ My Event World - Lyndy Redding Event Magazine. Chantelle Thorley, 30 July 2010.
  12. ↑ What makes the perfect kitchen? The Independent. By Esther Walker and Jamie Merrill. Thursday, 27 November 2008.
  13. ↑ How We Met: Lyndy Redding & Gordon Ramsay The Independent. By Esther Walker. Sunday, 11 November 2007.
  14. ↑ http://www.mclaren.com/page/mclaren-group-announces-launch-of-dynamic-brand-new-mclaren-animation-media-company-1
  15. ↑ "DaimlerChrysler acquires an interest in TAG McLaren". DaimlerChrysler. 2 February 2000. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  16. ↑ "Mercedes may raise McLaren stake, no decision yet". Reuters. 2006-08-16. Retrieved 2006-08-16.
  17. ↑ Noble, Jonathan (9 January 2007). "Bahrain company buys into McLaren". Autosport (Haymarket Media). Retrieved 11 January 2007.
  18. ↑ Adam Cooper (10 November 2010). "McLaren Team Made Big Profit In 2009". speedtv.com. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  19. ↑ "Company profile". Fast Track. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Saward, Joe (4 January 2012). "The Politics within McLaren". Joe Sawards Grand Prix blog. Retrieved 4 January 2012.

Coordinates: 51°20′45.0″N 0°32′54.0″W / 51.345833°N 0.548333°W

McLaren Automotive road car timeline 1990s–present
Type 1990s 2000s 2010s
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Sports Series 540C
570S
Super Series 12C 625C
650S
675LT
Ultimate Series F1 Mercedes SLR P1
F1 LM