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McLaren Group

Coordinates: 51°20′45.0″N 0°32′54.0″W / 51.345833°N 0.548333°W / 51.345833; -0.548333
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McLaren Group Limited
Company typePrivate
IndustryMotorsport
Founded1985
HeadquartersWoking, Surrey, United Kingdom
Key people
Richard Lapthorne, Non-Executive Chairman
Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of McLaren Racing
Ron Dennis, Executive Chairman of McLaren Automotive
RevenueGB£241 million (2005)
GB£14.3 million (2005)
GB£12.3 million (2005)
Number of employees
1,289 (2005)
SubsidiariesMcLaren Mercedes
McLaren Automotive
McLaren Electronics
WebsiteMcLaren Group
Footnotes / references
Source: ICC Financial Analysis Reports

The McLaren Group, based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking in the United Kingdom, is a group of companies created by Ron Dennis, described by the International Herald Tribune as "a small conglomerate".[1] The Group is focused around the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula One racing team and was originally formed from the team established by New Zealander Bruce McLaren in 1963. 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]

Beginnings of McLaren

McLaren originally started in Formula One as a constructor in 1966 under Bruce McLaren. The company is based in Woking. Bruce McLaren was killed in 1970 when testing a Can-am series car. The group was under the direction of Teddy Mayer. Under his direction the team won their first Constructor and Drivers title with Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi.

Beginning of car manufacturing (1992–present)

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 .[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 SLR with Mercedes as a joint project. Mercedes presently owns 11% of the group as 29% has been sold back to the group. [5]

Formula One (1966-present)

Main article: McLaren Racing

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 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 the Dennis can focus on expanding McLaren overall especially in the road car market[4]

The First period of F1 Operation (1966–1994)

Before Mercedes became the engine supplier in 1994 the team used Peugeot engines, after they had used Cosworth engines in 1993. Before then, they used Honda engines for the past 4 years and won Constructor's and Drivers titles in the late 80's and early 90's with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Before Honda supplied engines to McLaren they supplied engines to Williams. McLaren also won championships in the 70s' with James Hunt and Emerson Fittipaldi

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 November 16th 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 manufacture." 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.[citation needed]

Post-Mercedes era (2009–present)

On November 16th 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]

Subsidiaries

Ownership

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 current shareholding is 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] Mercedes presently owns 11% of the group as 29% has been sold back to the group. [10]

As of 2010, the shareholding structure of the Group is:

References

  1. ^ Spurgeon, Brad (2000-06-24). "TAG McLaren Group Revs Up Off Track". International Herald Tribune. p. 9. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  2. ^ Pete Engardio (February 13, 2010). "In Detroit, Is There Life After the Big 3?". New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  3. ^ "SSC Aero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  4. ^ a b c d Benson, Andrew (2009-11-16). "BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Mercedes takes over Brawn F1 team". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  5. ^ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/racing/top-stories/McLaren-buy-back-bulk-of-Mercedes-shares/articleshow/5699231.cms
  6. ^ By NESHA STARCEVIC Associated Press 2009-11-17 12:58 AM (2009-11-17). "Mercedes takes over Brawn GP - Taiwan News Online". Etaiwannews.com. Retrieved 2009-11-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ DaimlerChrysler acquires an interest in TAG McLaren. Daimler website. 2 February 2000. Retrieved 3 July 2006.
  8. ^ "Mercedes may raise McLaren stake, no decision yet". Reuters. 2006-08-16. Retrieved 2006-08-16.
  9. ^ "Bahrain company buys into McLaren". 2007-01-09. Retrieved 2007-01-11.
  10. ^ http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82224

51°20′45.0″N 0°32′54.0″W / 51.345833°N 0.548333°W / 51.345833; -0.548333

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