McLaren restructures Group to create independent McLaren Automotive company

16 April 2009: At a press conference held this morning at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking , Surrey (UK), McLaren Group Chairman Ron Dennis announced a major restructuring of the McLaren Group.  

McLaren has for more than two years been engaged in a programme to develop a range of pure McLaren sports cars that will build on the great successes of the McLaren F1 and Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. As part of this plan, it is intended that McLaren Automotive, currently one of a number of companies within the McLaren Group, will become an independent company later this year. The launch date for the first model in the new range of McLaren sports cars will be in 2011.  

McLaren Automotive is intending to raise fresh equity in addition to the existing investment in the business to complete the development of the planned vehicle programmes. It has appointed Credit Suisse as its financial advisor, to facilitate this process.  

Ron Dennis said: "With planned additional investment in the company of £250 million, proposals in place for a new McLaren car production facility in the UK , and the potential for up to 800 skilled jobs, McLaren Automotive’s expansion will represent a significant investment in the UK automotive industry."  

A number of organisational changes have also been announced today, which are designed to facilitate the next stage of McLaren’s corporate development:  

-     As Executive Chairman of McLaren Automotive, Ron Dennis will lead the growth of the new sports car business. As of today, Ron Dennis has handed his responsibility as Chief Executive Officer of McLaren Racing to Martin Whitmarsh, who will be responsible to the board for the activities of McLaren Racing in addition to his role of Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.  

Richard Lapthorne said: "This is a very exciting time to be joining the McLaren Group and to be working closely with Ron and his team on McLaren Automotive’s expansion into the sports car market. It’s a rare opportunity to be involved at a key stage in the development of a British sports car company of an entirely new sort, especially one that has such a great racing pedigree and such a world-class reputation as McLaren.”  

Reflecting on his life in Formula 1, Ron Dennis concluded by saying: “I passed the role of Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to Martin Whitmarsh on January 16^th, the day of the launch of our new Formula 1 car. That day I was asked many times whether I would attend the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. My answer was “yes”. I duly attended it – albeit not as the person in charge of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. It was, I admit, a strange feeling.  

“The next race, the Malaysian Grand Prix, I watched on TV in the UK – an activity I found surprisingly easy. I’d expected to be more emotional about it, after an unbroken run of attending so many grands prix for so many years.  

“I admit I’m not always easy to get on with. I admit I’ve always fought hard for McLaren in Formula 1. I doubt if Max Mosley or Bernie Ecclestone will be displeased by my decision. But no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision.  

“Equally, I was the architect of today’s restructure of the McLaren Group. Again, no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision.  

“I feel enormously enthused about the prospects for the McLaren Group and for McLaren Automotive, and have no qualms about leaving Martin to report to the board regarding matters connected with Formula 1.”  

Notes:

• The McLaren Group comprises McLaren Automotive, McLaren Racing, McLaren Marketing, McLaren Electronic Systems, McLaren Applied Technologies and Absolute Taste.
• The shareholding of the McLaren Group is as follows: Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) 40%; Bahraini Mumtalakat Holding Company 30%; Tag Group (Mansour Ojjeh) 15%; Ron Dennis 15%
• From 1993 until 1998, McLaren Cars (the forerunner to McLaren Automotive) designed and manufactured the iconic McLaren F1 super sports car. McLaren Automotive has successfully designed and manufactured the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren range of premium sports cars over the past six years, and will continue to do so until the end of 2009.
• Richard Lapthorne is Chairman of Cable and Wireless plc.   Recently he was also Chairman of Morse plc and of the private equity owned fashion retailer New Look.  His career started with Unilever where in 18 years he worked in the UK , Paris , Holland and Africa .  He then moved to Courtaulds plc as Group Financial Controller, becoming Finance Director in 1986 as well as Chairman of the US Group.  He joined British Aerospace plc in July 1992 and was a key member of the management team responsible for transforming the company into Europe ’s leading aerospace and defence company. He retired as Vice Chairman in 1999. He started his non-executive career with Amersham International plc in 1989, becoming Chairman from 1996 until 2003.  He has held a number of other directorships including Robert Fleming, the merchant bank, Oasis International Leasing in Abu Dhabi , Chairman of Avecia (spun off from Astra Zeneca), Chairman of TI Automotive (spun off from Smiths Group), Chairman of Tunstall and Chairman of Arlington Securities. Between 1999 and 2004 he served on the Navy Board.  He led the Working Age project in 2000. He is a current member of the HMRC large business advisory board. He is the Queen’s Trustee at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew .
• Ron Dennis has been a pioneering force within motorsport since he began his career 42 years ago. In 1966 he joined the Cooper Racing Car Company and progressed to join the Brabham Racing team where in 1968 he was appointed to the position of Chief Mechanic to Sir Jack Brabham. Three years later Ron launched his own company, Rondel Racing, which won races in the Formula 2 Championship. During the 1970s he ran a number of highly successful teams, mainly concentrating on Formula 2 but also competing with distinction in the Procar Championship. In 1980 Ron’s most recent company, Project Four, merged with Team McLaren Ltd to form McLaren Racing. This was to be the catalyst for the great success and diversification that McLaren has enjoyed to date. Since 1980, McLaren has won seven Constructors’ World Championships and ten Drivers’ World Championships. In 1989 Ron co-founded McLaren Cars, which designed and manufactured the revolutionary F1 road car of 1994; now renamed McLaren Automotive, the company produces the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren sports car on behalf of Daimler. Ron's entrepreneurial skills have seen the McLaren Group grow and diversify. It currently encompasses McLaren Automotive, McLaren Electronic Systems, McLaren Applied Technologies, McLaren Marketing and Absolute Taste, all in addition to the flagship, McLaren Racing and its Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team. During the year 2000 Ron was honoured with a CBE for services to motorsport. In 2001 he was presented with a BRDC Gold Medal in recognition for his contribution to motorsport. He was also awarded an Hon DTech from De Montfort University in 1996, an Hon DSc from City University ( London ) in 1997 and, in 2000, an Hon DSc from the University of Surrey . In January 2009 Ron announced that he would pass the role of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team Principal to Martin Whitmarsh.

The FIA dealt a huge blow to the non diffuser teams today by essentially legalizing the two-tiered dufusers that were used by Toyota, BrawnGP, and WilliamsF1.  

Toyota released this statement: 

Here is the FULL FIA RELEASE:

The FIA International Court of Appeal has decided to deny the appeals submitted against decisions numbered 16 to 24 taken by the Panel of the Stewards on 26 March at the 2009 Grand Prix of Australia and counting towards the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship.  

 
Based on the arguments heard and evidence before it, the Court has concluded that the Stewards were correct to find that the cars in question comply with the applicable regulations.

  
Full reasons for this decision will be provided in due course.

Lewis Hamilton

“I really enjoy racing in Shanghai – the track is a good blend of fast and slow stuff and it throws up a few nice challenges for the drivers. Finding the right set-up is important, you need speed and balance through the high-speed corners but decent mechanical grip for the hairpins. We got it spot-on last year, and while I don’t expect us to enjoy that sort of performance advantage this season, I think we’re all looking forward to a good showing. Hopefully, some of the upgrades we’ve added to MP4-24 for this race will have a benefit: it would be very encouraging if we could qualify a little further up the grid and be regularly challenging for points.”  

Heikki Kovalainen

“The best corners on the Shanghai International Circuit are Turns Six and Seven – the fast, sweeping left- and right-handers. The left is almost flat in sixth before you shift down a gear and change direction at very high speed. It’s difficult to find the ideal set-up because of the variety of different corners: there’s some heavy braking, fast esses and high-speed changes of direction, which require a good aero package, and some slower corners where mechanical grip is important. It’s all about compromise – it’s a real challenge for the drivers and the engineers. But at least you can overtake – mainly into Turns Four, 10 and 13 – so I hope we’ll see some great racing this weekend.”  

Martin Whitmarsh, team principal Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“We have reasons to be both disappointed and optimistic about our performance in the opening races of the 2009 season: disappointed because we do not yet possess the necessary technical package to enable us to fight with the leaders, but optimistic that our rate of progress is sufficiently rapid that we should be able to fight for points finishes on a regular basis. This weekend’s race will see a number of new components introduced to MP4-24, and while we do not expect them to radically transform the car’s potential, they should move us a little closer to the front than we saw in the opening two races.”

Norbert Haug, vice-president Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“Last year, Lewis drove an excellent race on this challenging circuit and won. For this year’s Chinese Grand Prix, it has to be our target to start further up the grid than was the case in the first two grands prix. Those two races showed that points-finishes or even podiums were possible, even when the basic speed was not good enough. The team has developed further technical and aerodynamic improvements which should enable us to make another small step forward.”