McLaren is a relatively recent car company having been started by Bruce McLaren in 1963, not as a mass production manufacturer but, as a racing team. Yet McLaren regularly competes with the likes of established marques such as Ferrari for the Formula One title and now increasingly on the road too.
McLaren has not produced many road going production cars, instead focussing mainly on their main event – the Formula One team. Their first effort was the superb late 90’s McLaren F1, which set the benchmark for supercars and held onto it for many years thereafter. Oh and they entered it into Le Mans and won… on their first outing!
Collaborations with manufacturers such as BMW and Mercedes for power plants has produced some special machines like the aforementioned F1 and McLaren-Mercedes SLR. These cars then led to McLaren designing their own sports car, the 12C but this time using their own power plant and extensive use of carbon fibre in the chassis in comparison to the heavy but fast SLR.
However, most important in their rise to the top is, perhaps, the McLaren P1™. Named as such since it harks back to the glorious ‘F1’ of McLaren’s previous offering and racing heritage, but also P1 means ‘Position 1’ on the race track too. The McLaren P1™’s most interesting accolade though, is that it is a powered by hybrid technology.
Now, many people still seem to think hybrids are a new technology, bound to go wrong in endless complexity, and there is some truth to the complexity as hybrids do have two technologies and are therefore more complex than either on their own.
The thing is, when the two technologies – internal combustion and electric power – are combined, they can form to create a drivetrain with all of the positive aspects of both; the roughty noise from an internal combustion engine and ease of re-fuelling plus the low down instant torque and power from an electric motor.
So effective is the combination in the P1™, that McLaren have managed a staggering 916 PS from it’s hybrid system. With optimised aerodynamics, the car is set to be very fast indeed. We foresee many a Porsche 918 Spyder comparison article coming soon, and watch ‘this space’ for McLaren’s turn around the Nurburgring which is sure to happen.
The P1™ then, is an important car for McLaren. So it’s equally important where they choose to show and sell it. McLaren Automotive has opened their latest showroom in Stuttgart, Germany, just three weeks after their 50th anniversary. This marks the 5th showroom to be opened in Germany and was officially opened yesterday, 26th September 2013.
The exclusively designed showroom in the listed Böblingen airfield complex forms the ideal backdrop for the display of the entire range of high performance sports cars.
As with the McLaren retailer in Frankfurt, responsibility for the new Meilenwerk showroom rests with the Dörr Group. At the sharp end is Andrew Skey, from the UK, who has several years’ experience within the Group. With his expertise, he’ll be taking over the general management of McLaren Stuttgart. Rainer Dörr, owner of the Dörr Group, has been active in the automotive arena for over twenty years and heads a team of some ten specialists for the marque. The linked service division supports customers with experienced technicians from the sister site in Frankfurt.
As well as the McLaren 12C and 12C Spider, visitors can also see the McLaren P1™, which has already been received by media and the public with enthusiasm at its unveiling in Geneva, earlier this year. This is the first time the public in southern Germany will be able to see the car.
Visitors are invited to find out more about the team and the fascinating cars at the open day, which is to be held on Saturday, 28th September.
Source; McLaren
