New Zealander Bruce McLaren founded his racing team in 1963 and dreamed of building a road car, but he was killed testing in 1970 before his prototype could reach production. Under Ron Dennis, the McLaren group set up a road-car business, McLaren Cars, whose first product was the McLaren F1 of 1992.
Designed by Gordon Murray with a central driving seat and a BMW V12, the F1 was the fastest production car in the world for years, and in GTR racing form it won the Le Mans 24 Hours at its first attempt in 1995. Only 106 were built. McLaren then built the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren for Mercedes between 2003 and 2009.
McLaren Automotive became a standalone company in 2010 and launched the MP4-12C in 2011, followed by a range of sports cars, supercars and limited “Ultimate” models such as the P1 and Senna, all built at the McLaren Production Centre next to the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking. Since 2025 it has been owned by CYVN Holdings of Abu Dhabi.
