McLaren Technology Group
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McLaren Group Limited ( ) is a British holding company based in
Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...
, England, which is involved in
Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
and other
motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...
and the manufacture of
sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...
s. The group was founded by
Ron Dennis Sir Ronald Dennis (born 1 June 1947) is a British businessman and motorsport executive. From 1981 to 2009, Dennis served as team principal, CEO and co-owner of McLaren in Formula One, winning seven World Constructors' Championship titles betw ...
shortly after his acquisition of the
McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...
Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
team in
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...
, as the TAG McLaren Group due to a partnership with
Mansour Ojjeh Mansour Akram Ojjeh (25 September 1952 – 6 June 2021) () was a French Saudi Arabian-born entrepreneur who owned a part of TAG, a Luxembourg-based holding company with interests worldwide. Ojjeh was the CEO of TAG, which owned 14.32% of the McL ...
's TAG Group. The Formula One team had been established by New Zealander
Bruce McLaren Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing driver, automotive designer, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . McLaren was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Champ ...
in 1963. McLaren Group was renamed McLaren Technology Group in 2015. In June 2017 it was announced that Dennis had sold his 25% shareholding in the company to the other shareholders, in addition to his shares in McLaren Automotive. The group then merged with McLaren Automotive to form a new company using the previous McLaren Group name.


History

Bruce McLaren Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing driver, automotive designer, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . McLaren was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Champ ...
started
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...
in 1963 and the team first entered Formula One in 1966.
Teddy Mayer Edward Everett Mayer (September 8, 1935 – January 30, 2009) was an American motor racing entrepreneur who was successful in several categories of racing, including Formula One and Indy cars. Life and career Mayer was born in Scranton, Pen ...
took over direction of the group following McLaren's death while testing a Can-am series car in 1970. Mayer subsequently led McLaren to their first World Constructors' Championship in 1974 with Brazilian driver
Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi (; born 12 December 1946) is a Brazilian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Fittipaldi won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with Team ...
, who also won the World Drivers' Championship that year. Between 1998 and 2011 McLaren built both the
McLaren Technology Centre The McLaren Technology Centre is the headquarters of the McLaren Group and its subsidiaries, located on a site in Woking, Surrey, England. The complex consists of two buildings: the original McLaren Technology Centre, which acts as the main he ...
, a new headquarters and factory for the Group, and the McLaren Production Centre, in Woking, England. In late May 2020, McLaren Group announced the
layoff A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...
of 25% of its workforce as part of a company restructure due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The group announced in December 2020 that American investment firm MSP Sports Capital had purchased 15% of McLaren Racing, as part of a deal that would see them grow their stake to 33% by the end of 2022. The £185 million investment valued the team at £560 million. In April 2021, Global Net Lease announced that it had agreed to acquire the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking for £170 million. The group sold
McLaren Applied McLaren Applied is a British technology and products company. Capabilities include design, development, manufacture and test of electronic, mechanical, electrical and software products. The company is focused on four industries: motorsport, au ...
to Greybull Capital in August 2021. In March 2024,
Mumtalakat Holding Company Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company B.S.C. (Mumtalakat) is the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain. It was established by Royal Decree in 2006 and is wholly owned by the Government. Mumtalakat actively sought investment opportunities l ...
, the
sovereign wealth fund A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund, is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, Bond (finance), bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as ...
of the
Kingdom of Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
acquired all outstanding shares of McLaren Group and took full control of the company. In December 2024, Mumtalakat Holding Company sold 100% of McLaren Automotive to Abu Dhabi-based investment firm CYVN Holdings. The sale also included a non-controlling stake in the McLaren Group.


Subsidiaries


McLaren Racing

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 Edward Everett Mayer (September 8, 1935 – January 30, 2009) was an American motor racing entrepreneur who was successful in several categories of racing, including Formula One and Indy cars. Life and career Mayer was born in Scranton, Pen ...
, who helped the team win their first Constructors and Drivers titles. After Mayer, Ron Dennis took over the McLaren Racing team and worked for the company until 2018. However, at the beginning of the 2009 season, Dennis handed over the F1 department to
Martin Whitmarsh Martin Richard Whitmarsh (born 29 April 1958) is a British businessman and former Group CEO of the Aston Martin Formula One Team. Whitmarsh is best known to motorsport insiders, media, and fans for his long and successful period at McLaren, fo ...
so Dennis could focus on expanding McLaren overall, and especially in the road car market. In 1966, McLaren suffered with reliability with their Ford 4.2-litre engine, and only scored one 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, ending after the 2014 season. The team's first F1 race win occurred in 1968 when Bruce McLaren won the non-championship Race of Champions at
Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...
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 1984 and 1985. In 1988, the
McLaren MP4/4 The McLaren MP4/4, also known as the McLaren-Honda MP4/4, was one of the most successful Formula One car designs of all time. Powered by Honda in Formula One, Honda's Honda RA16 engine, RA168E 1.5-litre V6-Turbocharger, turbo engine and driven ...
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. The partnership between McLaren and Mercedes began in 1995 with McLaren choosing to use Mercedes engines. McLaren and Mercedes announced their intention to part ways in November 2009 as Mercedes had bought the debut-season driver and constructor winning team Brawn. It was re-branded as Mercedes Grand Prix. 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. 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. In 2018, the team was powered by customer
Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...
power units until 2020, when the team switched from Renault back to Mercedes.


Former subsidiaries

Former subsidiaries of McLaren Group are:


Ownership

Ron Dennis initially owned all of McLaren after buying out the remaining original shareholders after Bruce McLaren's death. In 1983 he offered
Mansour Ojjeh Mansour Akram Ojjeh (25 September 1952 – 6 June 2021) () was a French Saudi Arabian-born entrepreneur who owned a part of TAG, a Luxembourg-based holding company with interests worldwide. Ojjeh was the CEO of TAG, which owned 14.32% of the McL ...
the chance to purchase 50% of the team, with McLaren becoming a joint venture with Ojjeh's TAG Group. In 2000, after supplying engines to the team through its Mercedes subsidiary for five years,
Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...
exercised an option to buy 40% of the TAG McLaren Group. Dennis and Ojjeh each retained a 30% share. In August 2006 it was reported that Daimler was considering acquiring the remaining 60% of the McLaren Group. However, it was announced in January 2007 that the
Mumtalakat Holding Company Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company B.S.C. (Mumtalakat) is the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain. It was established by Royal Decree in 2006 and is wholly owned by the Government. Mumtalakat actively sought investment opportunities l ...
had purchased 15% each from both Dennis and Ojjeh. In November 2009, Mercedes bought Brawn GP (renaming it Mercedes GP) and announced that McLaren would buy back Daimler's 40% share of the group over a period of two years. The shares were divided evenly between the remaining shareholders, with the Mumtalakat Holding Company owning 50% and Dennis and Ojjeh each owning 25%. Dennis had stepped down as CEO of McLaren in 2009, handing over the reins to Martin Whitmarsh, but returned to his post in 2014 under the condition that he would seek investment to take a controlling interest in the company. His attempts to do so ultimately failed, and in November 2016 he lost a court case against his fellow shareholders that saw him suspended from his position as chairman. Dennis' contract with McLaren expired in January 2017, and in June 2017 it was announced that he had agreed to sell his remaining shares in both the McLaren Technology Group and McLaren Automotive. McLaren Automotive then became a subsidiary of the McLaren Technology Group, merging the shareholding of the two companies and seeing the group revert to its original McLaren Group name. In May 2018, it was announced that Canadian businessman
Michael Latifi Michael Mehrdad Latifi (born October 1962 in Iran) is an Iranians in Canada, Iranian-Canadian billionaire businessman. He is the owner, Chairman and CEO of Sofina Foods Inc., a Markham, Ontario-based manufacturer of food products. Sofina acquire ...
had purchased approximately 10% of the group with an investment of £200 million. This left the shareholding at: Mumtalakat Holding Company 56.4%, TAG Group Limited 14.32%, Nidala (BVI) Limited (Michael Latifi) 9.84%, Favorita Limited 5.78%, Perlman Investments Limited 5.77%, McKal Holdings Ltd 5.24%, Acanitt Limited 2.65%. In 2024, Mumtalakat bought 100% of the company.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mclaren Group Automotive companies established in 1985 Automotive companies of England British companies established in 1985 Companies based in Surrey Conglomerate companies established in 1985 Conglomerate companies of the United Kingdom Holding companies established in 1985 Holding companies of the United Kingdom Privately held companies of England