McLaren in financial trouble | FerrariChat

McLaren in financial trouble

Discussion in 'F1' started by TheMayor, May 15, 2020.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. Beau365

    Beau365 Formula 3

    Feb 27, 2005
    1,284
    Congested London
    Full Name:
    Beau
    Sad but they've been struggling for a while.
    This is the bad side of having a foreign fund calling the shots.
    Mike has been fighting an internal battle that he could never win.
    Personally I wouldn't rule out Stroll buying it at a bargain price.
    It's road cars have been depreciating rapidly and plenty of customer issues didn't help.
    Ron must be watching with interest.
    The building feels unique and probably is.
     
    william likes this.
  2. Igor Ound

    Igor Ound F1 Veteran

    Sep 30, 2012
    8,102
    The Horn
    Full Name:
    Igor Ound
  3. 375+

    375+ F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Dec 28, 2005
    11,885
    +1 The house that Ron built.
     
  4. Flavio_C

    Flavio_C Formula 3
    BANNED

    Sep 7, 2012
    2,445
    Insubria
    Well, if Mclaren is in this situation, what can we say about Williams?
     
  5. Bas

    Bas Four Time F1 World Champ

    Mar 24, 2008
    41,300
    ESP
    Full Name:
    Bas
    They're getting close to counting time left in hours I reckon.
     
  6. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Feb 11, 2008
    98,539
    Vegas baby
  7. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 3, 2006
    25,447
    One could say that most car makers are laying off staff, since there are no sales.

    Most dealers are closed, there are no new orders.

    Covid-19 affects the whole car industry, but obviously some companies are more resilient than others.
     
  8. DF1

    DF1 Two Time F1 World Champ

    https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52808927

    McLaren's Formula 1 operation expects to lose about 70 people from its 800-strong workforce.

    However, there will be a second phase of redundancies in 2021 once the team has taken a recent sport-wide budget cap agreement into account.

    While the coronavirus crisis has driven the redundancies across the whole group, the cost-cap has been the biggest influence on the racing team.

    Many other teams - especially the big ones such as Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull - will also have to cut head count but there may be other ways of doing it for some, such as redeployment in the wider group for the big car companies.
     
  9. Mitch Alsup

    Mitch Alsup F1 Veteran

    Nov 4, 2003
    9,252
    Hint: Enter other racing series.
     
    DF1 likes this.
  10. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 3, 2006
    25,447
    I can't see nothing wrong with reducing staff and reduce costs.
    Most employers would welcome that!
     
    timjen88 and DF1 like this.
  11. Coincid

    Coincid F1 Rookie

    Dec 9, 2014
    3,577
    Canada
    Car dealers in my province opened 2 weeks ago and sold my Performante within 4 days.
     
  12. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Feb 11, 2008
    98,539
    Vegas baby
    The difference is that Mac builds cars and sends them to dealers and Ferrari builds each one to spec. Some Ferrari models have a one year waiting list. Unless new orders drop Ferrari can keep people going for a while. Mac has like 90 unsold $350 grand cars sitting on dealer lots in the USA. Its going to take while to clear that out given used cars are a bargain.
     
    stavura and Igor Ound like this.
  13. LVP488

    LVP488 F1 Rookie

    Jan 21, 2017
    4,839
    France
    No doubt Ferrari is in better shape, but they have multiplied the dealer demo cars (which did not exist a few years ago) so they are not completely immune.
     
    TheMayor likes this.
  14. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Feb 11, 2008
    98,539
    Vegas baby
    No one is immune. But some are in better shape than others.

    The market for 2 seat sports cars is really small. If you cut back 15% of your sales you really get hurt given the fixed costs of overhead to make them, which doesn't change.
     
  15. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 3, 2006
    25,447

    McLaren builds his cars in batches; it's apparently easier to calculate costs and plan production that way.
    One can obtain better prices on sub-contracted parts, and outsorced components if you order that way, I was told by an insider once.
    This may have its drawback.
     
    TheMayor likes this.
  16. Igor Ound

    Igor Ound F1 Veteran

    Sep 30, 2012
    8,102
    The Horn
    Full Name:
    Igor Ound
    Has Stroll enough money and buy mclaren too? Can put his daughter to drive there and let the kids play with eachother
     
  17. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 3, 2006
    25,447

    Buying a company and making a success of it is a different thing.
    There are plenty of business people who bought a sports car company and couldn't make it work.
    I think the initial investment is only half the battle.
     
  18. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Feb 11, 2008
    98,539
    Vegas baby
    Agreed... but they do build and then send unsold models to US dealers.
     
    william likes this.
  19. tfazio

    tfazio Formula 3
    Silver Subscribed

    Apr 20, 2004
    1,968
    Michigan
    I see a total of 251 "New" McLaren's available on Autotrader right now and yes there are over 90 720S Including Coupe and Spoiler) currently available so your comment about Mac having 90 unsold $350K cars seems to be spot on. This is not a new phenomenon for McLaren either as their new inventory was at a similar and sometimes even higher number prior to COVID 19. This number has been consistent and has even dropped a bit in recent months due to some great discounts. This is despite McLaren offering a really attractive closed leasing program on a lot of its cars which could also hurt the company significantly when the cars are turned back in.

    Aston Martin is in even worse shape. 509 New Cars listed for sale on Autotrader. They too have been offering very attractive closed-end leases and without them their sales would have been extraordinarily bad over the last 12 months. The SUV should help their bottom line but with all the debt they have that may not even be enough to save them.

    It is definitely a good time to be a buyer and perhaps maybe even better to be a lessee... :)
     
    375+ likes this.
  20. Uhhhh.... mssr. william.....he hasn'r quite been able to in 50 years. :(
     
  21. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Feb 11, 2008
    98,539
    Vegas baby
    I'm guessing McLaren would like that $40M they paid Alonso back right now...
     
  22. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Feb 11, 2008
    98,539
    Vegas baby
    They fired the head of Aston today.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2020/05/26/luxury-carmaker-aston-martin-neglected-to-inform-its-ceo-that-he-was-fired/#2903f06e19c6
     
  23. crinoid

    crinoid F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Apr 2, 2005
    9,414
    Full Name:
    LaCrinoid
    So after McLaren’s lay-offs which F1 team is largest McLaren or Renault ?
     
  24. Igor Ound

    Igor Ound F1 Veteran

    Sep 30, 2012
    8,102
    The Horn
    Full Name:
    Igor Ound
    largest pile of...
     
    timjen88 and crinoid like this.

Share This Page