Britain’s best-known supercar brand is now Bahraini
McLaren, a British sports car and supercar manufacturer, continues to thrive in the UK, but its core operations are now based in Bahrain.
McLaren has been battling to stay afloat over the past couple of years, which has forced them into a change of ownership. The Bahraini fund Mumtalakat was previously the brand’s biggest shareholder and has taken full ownership of the McLaren Group. Although this is big news in the automotive world, McLaren continues to project a positive image of the situation, claiming that the change of ownership is a major milestone for the brand and should provide better stability moving forward.
The McLaren Group is also the majority stakeholder in McLaren Racing. This means that Mumtalakat will have significant influence over the various McLaren racing divisions, including Formula 1, Extreme E, IndyCar, and Formula E. It will be interesting to see how this change will either benefit or damage McLaren’s influence in global racing over the coming seasons.
Unfortunately for McLaren, the past few years have seen their fair share of upsets. The company let go over 1,000 employees, sold off prized heritage vehicles, halted production, and sold their headquarters to fund the production of the new and struggling Artura, leaving McLaren with little to no choice but to seek new ownership.
So what does this new ownership mean for the future of McLaren? Well, the brand is in good spirits regarding this change, and Mumtalakat has proved to be a devoted piece of the puzzle. With new owners and deeper pockets, the brand now has freshly acquired potential for producing a wider variety of vehicles and can afford to put more time and effort into their production and quality. So we might see a new P1-type vehicle from the brand soon, but for now, the former British supercar manufacturer is now Bahraini.
