McLaren Automotive Confirms Entry into Philippine Market

After all the speculations and rumors, it can finally be said: McLaren is finally coming to the Philippines. This was revealed by no less than McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt in a meeting with journalists in Detroit.

As reported by Reuters, Flewitt says McLaren sales have started to fall in the United Kingdom, its largest market. With that, the British carmaker is looking to the United States and Asia to remain strong.

In particular, Flewitt indicated solid plans to open up shop in the Philippines as well as Vietnam, India, and Russia. No solid timelines or details were outlined.

McLaren Automotive’s aggressive expansion plans also include the company’s first-ever hybrid supercar underpinned by a new architecture. They also plan to consider an initial public offering by 2025 which will include all facets of the McLaren business including its racing team and technology division.

plans are part of the carmaker’s plan to consider an initial public offering or IPO by 2025.

Source: Reuters

McLaren Returns to Mercedes-Benz Power in 2021

After a tumultuous relationship with Honda and a solid, but unspectacular season so far with Renault, McLaren Racing is hoping to bounce back to the forefront of the Formula grid with the announcement that they will be returning to Mercedes-Benz power from 2021.

Under a long-term agreement Mercedes-Benz will supply McLaren with engines from 2021 to 2024. This is the first time that McLaren and Mercedes-Benz will come together since 2014. It must be remembered that the McLaren and Mercedes-Benz partnership that spanned 19 years (1995-2014) produced three Formula One World Championships.

Zak Brown, CEO, McLaren Racing, commented: “This agreement is an important step in our long-term plan to return to success in Formula 1. Mercedes is the benchmark, both as a team and a power unit, so it is natural we would seek to secure a relationship with the company for the next phase of our journey. This announcement reflects the confidence of our shareholders and is an important message to our investors, employees, partners and fans that we are committed to returning McLaren to the front of the field.”

Meanwhile, Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, concluded: “We are delighted to welcome McLaren back to the Mercedes-Benz racing family with this new power unit supply agreement. Although the two brands share a prestigious history, this new agreement is all about looking to the future and beginning a new era of power unit supply for the years ahead. McLaren have been putting in place the building blocks of their revival over recent seasons, including impressive performances this season with Renault power. We hope that this new long-term agreement marks another milestone for McLaren as they aim to take the fight to the sport’s top teams, including our Mercedes works team.”

McLaren Restored this F1 Supercar to Immaculate Condition

With just 106 made, including 64 road-going examples, the McLaren F1 is one of the rarest supercars you can buy. But thanks to McLaren Special Operations (MSO), they took it upon themselves to develop, manufacture parts, and even restore the F1 supercar even after 21 years since production ended.

Chassis #063 has received a painstaking restoration that’s taken McLaren a period of 18 months and 3,000 hours of work to accomplish. With its drivetrain removed entirely, MSO stripped both interior and exterior.

Work first started inside, where this particular unit had the unique Woking Grey-colored interior—a color inspired by the slate-colored English sky above McLaren’s headquarters. Restorers hand-selected 10 different hides to re-trim the interior—from the dashboard to the seats. The driver seat also has a red perforated Alcantara center panel. The carpets were also renewed, while the steering wheel was replaced, with the original retained by the owner for historical reference.

Once the interior was re-trimmed, the exterior body panels were re-fitted, repainted in the original Magnesium Silver paint that took nearly 900 hours to complete.

Meanwhile, the BMW-developed 6.1-liter V12 engine was also rebuilt. It was even dyno tested to ensure that it still generates the 618 horsepower. The dampers were sent back to Bilstein for refurbishment, while the driveshafts and hubs were also sent back to the original supplier for a rebuild.

As with every McLaren F1 in the Certification program, #063 now has its own unique Certificate of Authenticity, which McLaren Automotive is the only body in the world able to issue, authenticating its provenance, originality, service life, road/race history and condition. Conformity with the original specification and to any McLaren-sanctioned upgrades is confirmed by reference to the factory archives.

The owner of Chassis 63 is now in possession of a bespoke illustrated book documenting the history of their car as well as a Genesis Speed Form; a 3D laser-scanned McLaren F1 distilled into a scale model to give the essence of the car, which was originally built at Genesis Business Park in Woking.

All McLaren F1s, whether standard road cars or race cars are eligible for the MSO restoration program.

McLaren Just Built Their 20,000th Car

It may be a relatively young upstart next to Ferrari and Lamborghini, but McLaren has reached a very important milestone: they’ve managed to hand-assemble their 20,000th vehicle.

All produced at the McLaren Production Centre in Woking, United Kingdom, the 20,000th McLaren is a right-hand drive 600LT Spider in Chicane Gray. This milestone comes after the first series McLaren road car, the McLaren 12C left the Production Centre in July 2011.

In 2018, McLaren’s production output reached just over 4,800 cars to meet rising global output. Regardless, they will hover around the 5,000 a year mark into the next decade before increasing to 6,000 before the end of the company’s “Track25” business plan. They are doing this to maintain exclusivity.

McLaren Automotive now employs over 2,300 people and, helped by a diverse product portfolio and more customers using the brand’s bespoke division, McLaren Special Operations (MSO).

The introduction of a second production shift in 2016 to meet rising global demand for McLaren vehicles has seen production double from around 10 cars to over 20 a day. Over 90 percent of vehicles built in Woking are exported to more than 32 markets around the world.