McLaren slams brakes on product offensive

McLaren is set to abandon, or radically alter, its ambitious Track 25 business plan, which pledged to introduce 18 new models or derivatives by 2025.

Since it was presented back in 2018, the latest McLaren product offensive has involved launching the Senna, 600LT, 720S Spider, GT, Speedtail, Elva and, most recently, the 765LT -- among others -- but things are about to slow down for 2021, says McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt.

Speaking on Automotive News' Daily Drive podcast, Flewitt admitted the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was taking its toll on McLaren and that would reshape its plans for the future.

“This will have interrupted our momentum,” Flewitt said. “This will have cost us probably two years. [In] 2020, we’re going to do very little. I think it’ll take us the whole of ’21 to climb back [to] where we were.”

“We’ve constrained a lot of programs and we’re focused on the programs that we’re going to deliver through the latter part of this year and into next year. So [for] things like the 765LT that we announced earlier this year, we have got a small team working on completing the development of this car,” said the McLaren boss.

This year, as well as launching the 765LT, the British car-maker will continue to manufacture and deliver its limited run of 249 windscreen-less Elva.

There's no news though of when the all-new replacement for the smallest Sport Series 570S family of supercars will arrive, nor if the P1-replacing hypercar will still rock up in 2024.

For now, Flewitt says his car-maker is focusing on the immediate future.

“One of the things that’s most intellectually challenging is working out the business plan, working out the plan for ’21 and beyond and trying to forecast how the markets are going to be, what the appetites of customers is going to be.”