Origin and founder McLaren Automotive replaced McLaren Cars in 2010. McLaren Cars was founded in 1985 and released the
McLaren F1 in 1992. Between 1994 and 2010, McLaren Cars was registered as a 'dormant company', before the founding of McLaren Automotive in 2010. The new company was originally separate from the existing McLaren companies to enable investment in the new venture, but was brought together in July 2017 after
Ron Dennis sold his shares in McLaren Automotive and
McLaren Group. McLaren's Formula One founder
Bruce McLaren was born in
Auckland,
New Zealand in 1937, and learned about cars and engineering at his parents' service station and workshop there. By 15, he had entered a local
hillclimb in an Austin 7 Ulster, winning his first race in the car. In 1958, McLaren arrived in the United Kingdom with the 'Driver to Europe' scheme, intended to help Australian and New Zealand racers to compete in Europe. His mentor,
Jack Brabham, introduced him to
Cooper Car Company, a small team based in
Surbiton, Surrey. Auspiciously starting his Formula One career in 1958, McLaren joined the
Formula One team a year later. That same year, he won the US Grand Prix at age 22, making him the youngest Grand Prix winner to that date. He stayed with Cooper for a further seven years, winning three more Grands Prix and other races, driving for
Jaguar and
Aston Martin, and winning the
24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 with
Ford. McLaren founded
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing in 1963. A year later, the company built the first true McLaren race car, the M1 (24 customer cars were produced by Elva). Its successor, the M1B, allowed McLaren into the
Can-Am championship, where it dominated with 43 victories, almost three times more than rival
Porsche. In 1965, the first McLaren Formula One car, the M2B, debuted at the
Monaco Grand Prix. After his victories and time in
Formula One, McLaren was designing and testing a prototype M6GT-registered OBH 500H, a lightweight sports car with an estimated top speed of and zero to 100 mph time of eight seconds. McLaren died while testing a race car at Goodwood in 1970 before the prototype could be completed.
Merging, spinoff and growth In 1980, the company merged with Ron Dennis’ Project 4 Racing team. The merger brought back designer
John Barnard, who was interested in using
carbon fibre composite. Carbon fibre was already used in aerospace applications but had never been applied to a complete racing car
monocoque. McLaren pioneered the use of carbon fibre in motor racing with its new car, the MP4/1, bringing new levels of rigidity and driver safety to Formula 1. In August 1988, Dennis, Team Principal and
Gordon Murray started to develop a new car and in 1992, the
F1 was launched with a total production run of 106 units. Following a brief collaboration with
Mercedes-Benz for the
SLR McLaren, McLaren Automotive was re-launched as a standalone manufacturer in 2010,
spinning off McLaren Racing. The company launched the
12C in 2011 and its Spider variant in 2012. The limited-run
P1 went into production in 2013 and ended in 2015. After introducing a business plan to release a car or model every year, the company unveiled the 650S in Coupé and Spider models in 2014, and unveiled the new Sports Series range comprising the McLaren 570S and 540C in 2015. The company debuted a spin-off model from the P1 for children, the P1TM, in September 2016 and announced the same month that they are developing a powerful battery for
Formula E. In October 2016,
councillors were reported to be looking at a proposition for land opposite the McLaren Technology Centre for construction and announced the "Pure McLaren Arctic Experience" the same month, an event where a participant was trained to drive a 570S in the
Arctic Circle. On 10 December 2024, it was reported that CYVN Holdings have acquired the automotive business of McLaren from
Mumtalakat, a deal which will see the high-performance automobile company weathers through the financial woes and builds its first electric supercar. The deal will also see CYVN hold a non-controlling stake in McLaren's racing business. In April 2025, following its successful acquisition of McLaren, CYVN merged McLaren with
Forseven, a British electric vehicle start-up under their ownership, with the combined companies being renamed McLaren Group Holdings. The merger is intended to give McLaren the capability to expand beyond the manufacture of mid-engine supercars and into other product categories, bringing future Forseven vehicles to the market under the McLaren name and allowing the company to compete with the likes of
Ferrari,
Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and
Bentley. == List of CEOs ==