McLaren Group opens new carbon fibre centre

McLaren Automotive, a subsidiary of McLaren Group of which Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat) is a majority shareholder, opened a new £50 million McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC) in Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Present at the opening ceremony were His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

MCTC is McLaren Automotive’s second production facility; the first one is located in Woking, England. The new production facility occupies 7,000 m² of building space and is expected to create over 200 new jobs when fully-operational by 2020. Carbon fibre has long been a part of McLaren’s DNA, the company has introduced the very first carbon fibre chassis into Formula 1 in 1981.

Since then McLaren has never made a race car, sports car or supercar without the carbon fibre due to its innate strength and lightweight properties. Commenting on the establishment of the new centre, Mahmood H. Alkooheji, Chief Executive Officer of Mumtalakat said, “McLaren Automotive exports over 90 per cent of its cars to markets worldwide.

As a result, the opening of the new McLaren Composites Technology Centre is an important milestone within the company’s growth.” Plans for the MCTC was first announced in February 2017, and construction commenced just five months later followed by six months of fit-outs. The centre will help in accelerating McLaren automotive plans for 18 new models or derivatives under its ambitious Track25 business plan that are lightest in class.