McLaren Gets Arab Investment, Could Soon Be Coming to Electric Cars

The claim that the modern British car industry is predominantly funded by Eastern investors is true even of iconic brands like McLaren. The 62-year-old sports car maker recently linked up with Chinese electric car startup Nio, via Arab investors.

Image source: McLaren

The thing is that the young British developer of luxury electric cars Forseven Holdings and the Chinese automaker Nio have common investors in the UAE, as the Financial Times explains. This week, the Abu Dhabi investment group CYVN completed a deal to buy McLaren assets from the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat. In turn, CYVN has previously provided financial support to the Forseven startup and the Chinese Nio, and since last year has owned a small stake in the McLaren racing team.

In turn, the Forseven startup has had the right to use the developments of the Chinese Nio Automobile Technology for its own needs since February of this year, since a licensing agreement has been concluded between the companies. Forseven may need specialized technologies to produce electric cars under its own brand. At the same time, after the CYVN deal with McLaren, representatives of the British startup said that they would like to use the legacy of the legendary British brand. Forseven initially expected to bring its own luxury electric cars to the market by the end of this decade.

McLaren had been suffering losses for the past five years and was negotiating with potential partners and investors to revive its business. The British sports car manufacturer established contacts with CYVN about a year ago. After the merger with Forseven, the veteran of the British car market will work under the management of Nick Collins, who has experience of managing the Jaguar Land Rover concern.

The majority of McLaren sports cars are sold on the American market, but they are manufactured in the UK. Until now, McLaren representatives have demonstrated a cool attitude towards both the production of electric cars and crossovers, although the company already offers hybrid sports cars. Under new owners, maintaining this approach can no longer be guaranteed, and some sources do not rule out the possibility of the release of a McLaren crossover, since the main competitors are already offering them. It is possible that crossovers of this brand will be manufactured outside the UK, but the company will try to assemble sports cars of a more classic layout only in their historical homeland, although under the conditions of the new US customs policy this will make even less sense.