McLaren commits to £1bn plan 01 | 03 | 2016
McLAREN AUTOMOTIVE HAS unveiled a £1 billion expansion plan to produce up to 15 new models and recruit 500 staff.
Over the next six years, the company plans to produce 15 new cars or derivatives of existing models and lift annual sales to as much as 5000 cars, from 1600. At least half of the cars will have hybrid engine technology.
Launched just six years ago, McLaren Automotive draws on technology used by the McLaren F1 racing team.
The announcement coincided with the launch of the new £150,000-plus 570GT at the Geneva Motor Show.
McLaren also confirmed the addition of a Spider derivative within its Sports Series family in 2017.
"Since its inception, McLaren Automotive has launched world-class products and this has been made possible by continuous investment in our future," Mike Flewitt, chief executive officer of McLaren Automotive said.
"The launch of our new six-year Business Plan, named Track22 because I believe we are on track to a very exciting and successful future, scopes our future investments and development strategy up until 2022.
Related: McLaren reveals 570GT
"This will see us launch 15 all-new cars or derivatives within our existing Sports Series, Super Series and Ultimate Series families. We will also develop an all-new engine architecture that will debut towards the end of the Business Plan period.
"Our next hybrid vehicle will launch towards the latter part of our six year plan, and we will see at least 50% featuring hybrid technology by 2022.
"Hybridisation has obvious CO2 and fuel consumption advantages but for us, it is all about delivering the performance and enjoyment of a McLaren.
"But we won’t stop there. Our engineers have even started work on a one-off prototype to evaluate the possible benefits of a fully-electric powertrain in an Ultimate Series car; such is the pace of development.
"Above all, 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, hand-crafted by our team in Woking."
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Jim McGill
Caption: Sir Jackie Stewart at the launch of the McLaren 570GT