20,000 UP! - McLaren 600LT Spider
The British supercar brand has just built its 20,000th car since its road car revival in 2011
Their Formula 1 division might want to forget the nightmare that has been the past few years, but their road car division is going better than ever, with the division recently reaching a major milestone – production of their 20,000th car!
The 20,000th car built was a right-hand drive 600LT Spider in Chicane Grey from the brand’s Sports Series line-up. Launched only last summer as the next chapter in the McLaren ‘Longtail’ story, all production slots for the Coupe variant have already been filled.
This latest milestone represents a further significant achievement for the British marque and comes eight years after the first McLaren road car left the Production Centre in July 2011.
While McLaren’s production reached just over 4,800 cars in 2018 to meet rising global demand, output will remain around 5,000 a year into the next decade before increasing to 6,000 before the end of the current Track25 business plan in order to maintain exclusivity.
Automotive now employs over 2,300 people and, helped by a diverse product portfolio and more customers using the brand’s bespoke division McLaren Special Operations, contributed a significant proportion of McLaren Group’s overall £1.2bn of revenue in 2018.
The introduction of a second production shift in 2016 to meet rising global demand for McLaren vehicles has seen production double from around 10 cars to over 20 a day. Over 90 per cent of vehicles built in Woking are exported to more than 32 markets around the world.
Mike Flewitt, Chief Executive Officer for McLaren Automotive, was quoted as saying, “Achieving our 20,000th car built is an important milestone for McLaren Automotive. Last year we hand-assembled just over 4,800 cars and we plan to maintain around 5,000 cars a year for the immediate future. While demand for our products continues to grow, we aim to balance that to maintain exclusivity for our brand and our customers. It is fitting that we celebrate this achievement with a 600LT Spider which has been a huge success for us with all production slots for the coupe variant now sold out.”
“It’s testament to the hard work, dedication and commitment from our McLaren Production Centre employees that we’re now able to produce 20 cars a day across many different vehicle types and variants, “said Dr. Jens Ludmann, Chief Operating Officer, McLaren Automotive.
The McLaren Production Centre was designed by Foster + Partners and took 14 months to build from breaking ground in 2010 to July 18, 2011 when the first car, a McLaren 12C, was approved for shipping.
