No company in the world ties Bahrain and the UK closer together than McLaren Automotive, with a famous history linking the two, on and off the track. Working closely with its exclusive dealership in the kingdom, Kanoo Motors, the iconic marque continues to deliver excellence.
The British creator of luxury sportscars and supercars was founded by Bruce McLaren in 1963, and since then has established itself as one of the world’s premier luxury automotive manufacturers. It is now part-owned by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, which is the majority shareholder.
The McLaren Bahrain Tower, which stands proudly next to the Bahrain International Circuit as the regional headquarters of the brand, has a floor area of approximately 8,000sqm across eight floors. From here, the company runs its business operations across its combined Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, one of four McLaren divisions and one which comprises 20 markets, 36 retailers and constitutes approximately a third of the brand’s global sales.
The company’s racing heritage has thrilled fans of Formula 1 since the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix in 2004, and no race on the island would be complete without a sea of supporters flying the flag of the team’s traditional orange colours.
Mumtalakat recently invested BD47m into the McLaren group and secured vintage racing cars and supercars from the company’s prized heritage collection. The kingdom is the driving force behind McLaren’s all-new in-house designed and developed innovative lightweight vehicle architecture that will underpin the next generation of McLaren’s electrified model line-up.
This comes hot on the heels of the exciting McLaren Artura, of which Kanoo Motors recently took the first regional deliveries to the delight of customers. Furthermore, the Artura continues to receive glowing reviews from both the global and local motoring community after successful test drives. The next-generation high-performance hybrid supercar is aimed at driving future growth for the company and is expected to contribute to circa 50 percent of the brand’s regional sales in 2023.
