McLaren has appeared on the acquisition radar at Audi and BMW. That reports the British Car Magazine. Both German brands would have their own plans with it.
McLaren has quickly grown into a relatively large sports car brand with a wide range in the past decade. While it obviously still doesn’t put huge numbers of cars on the road, it’s a very different story now than it was in the days of F1 or even P1. Apparently McLaren Automotive is now interesting enough for major players in the car industry to take over, because both Audi and BMW would be looking at the possibilities of taking control.
BMW would like to add McLaren Automotive to its already partly British brand portfolio, alongside Mini and Rolls-Royce. In addition, BMW does not yet own a supercar brand and does not offer direct competitors for the Ferrari 488 or Lamborghini Huracán under its own brand. McLaren would therefore certainly fill a gap within the BMW Group. That applies less to Audi, which of course has the R8 itself and holds sway with Lamborghini. Audi it is according to Car Magazine therefore to do an important part for McLaren Racing, the branch that also includes the Formula 1 team of McLaren. Audi (and parent company Volkswagen Group) have been flirting with participation in Formula 1 for some time. This does not seem to be the case at BMW.
Although nothing is formally known about possible negotiations, a takeover of McLaren Automotive would not come out of the blue. McLaren has suffered financially from the corona crisis and last year, for example, also had to sell the impressive McLaren Technology Center – the headquarters in Woking. It is still located there, but now the company rents the property.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl