McLaren Merging with 'Luxury Startup' Forseven, Expanding Into New Categories
It can be hard to keep up with developments at McLaren Automotive, what with the British supercar maker having gone through several funding crises and changes of ownership and management in the last few years. Now, however, McLaren is set to enter another new chapter with Thursday's announcement that the carmaker is set to merge with a British startup called Forseven, and the company will be putting in place what it describes as a 'turnaround plan to allow future growth.'
Forseven was founded in 2022 and is owned by CYVN Holdings, which is owned in turn by the government of Abu Dhabi. CYVN also took full control of McLaren earlier this year. The startup has been quietly recruiting engineers and designers, and has been spending money in the background, posting a loss of £38m ($49m) in its most recently filed accounts. The company previously described itself as a luxury EV maker, but the merger means it will cease to exist as a separate brand. Forseven boss Nick Collins will become CEO of the new McLaren Group, and Forseven chairman Jassem Al Zaabi – who is also chair of the Abu Dhabi Department of Finance – moving to the same role at McLaren.
Collins started his career at Ford, then became a senior engineer at Jaguar Land Rover, where he led development of the current Range Rover and Defender. Collins is also on the board of Chinese EV maker NIO, which CYVN also owns a stake in, and which signed a technology-sharing deal with Forseven earlier this year.
And, to bring in another famous British supercar name, Collins is also a director of Gordon Murray Technologies — but this is a business that was split from the car-building Gordon Murray Automotive earlier this year. Road & Track has been told there is no direct relationship between GMA and the new McLaren Group.
Other Forseven executives who will presumably now be working on McLaren projects include former Jaguar designer Alister Whelen and one-time Lotus boss Mike Johnstone. Interestingly, former McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt was Forseven's managing director until he left the role earlier in the year.
What does this mean for McLaren? The carmaker is playing its cards close to the vest, but in a statement, it said, "McLaren Automotive's portfolio will be expanded into new product categories, details of which will be announced later this year." According to a report by Autocar, the merger means that McLaren will broaden its product portfolio beyond the sports cars it's been known for.
McLaren has already been working to achieve this; last year, McLaren Automotive CEO Michael Leiters told us about plans for a hybrid 'lifestyle vehicle' SUV and a fully electric sports car. The intention then was to try to use another automaker's platform as the basis for the larger model, with McLaren known to have discussed a far-reaching collaboration with BMW. The new NIO connection raises the possibility that McLaren will use the Chinese maker's EV expertise instead; or, potentially, it could build a new platform using the innovative low-volume i-Stream technology acquired with the purchase of Gordon Murray Technologies.
Road & Track has reached out to McLaren Automotive to ask if the new leadership structure will mean changes to the existing management team. We will update the story if we find out more.
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