[RahulNagaraj]

Audi is said to have purchased the British supercar brand, McLaren. According to a media report, the deal gives Audi complete control over the whole group, including McLaren's F1 division and McLaren Applied - specialising in electrification systems for road and track.



The change of ownership helps secure the future of McLaren which has been under heavy financial pressures. The takeover also gives Volkswagen Group (which owns Audi) a direct entry into Formula 1. The Volkswagen Group has previously held discussions regarding its possible entry into the sport in 2025. The purchase also opens up opportunities for Audi to supply powertrains to the McLaren F1 team - currently using Mercedes-AMG engines.

With the takeover, Audi now owns two supercar brands - Lamborghini and McLaren.

Source: Autocar UK

Link to Team-BHP news

[twin-turbo]

That is very surprising. Wouldn't it kind of create a monopoly in the supercar market. On a different note , an electric or V10 McLaren sounds good.

[QuentinTino]

Low key waiting for a common engineered supercar duo like Vento-Rapid from Lambo and McLaren so that we can do the “Apples to Apples” wala comparison on them XD

[abhishek46]

Great!

So, we will have a repeat of the Auto-Union vs Silver Arrows Era once more!

[dipen]

Any news if the Saudi and Bahrain fund investments were also bought out by Audi.

Pagani also recently sold a 30 % stake to the Saudi PIF to raise money fore future electrification and other investments.

Koenigsegg had also sold 20 % about 3 years back to National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS)

Bugatti majority stake was sold to Rimac.

There would be many interesting alliances ahead.

[nikhn]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

Source: Autocar UK

McLaren Group denies being bought by Audi

Brand issues statement after an Autocar source reported Audi had acquired McLaren with a view to racing in F1

Link says otherwise. Could you please update it?

[sravankrishnan]

McLaren has released a statement that the information is inaccurate, can be found here.

McLaren Group is aware of a news media report stating it has been sold to Audi. This is wholly inaccurate and McLaren is seeking to have the story removed.

[ron178]

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/insid...tatement-sale/

McLAREN GROUP STATEMENT

Update regarding news media report
McLaren Group is aware of a news media report stating it has been sold to Audi. This is wholly inaccurate and McLaren is seeking to have the story removed.

McLaren’s technology strategy has always involved ongoing discussions and collaboration with relevant partners and suppliers, including other carmakers, however, there has been no change in the ownership structure of the McLaren Group.

[dragracer567]

Great, so now Lamborghini and Mclaren are owned by the same company? So, will they start platform sharing between these companies? Really strange considering the difference in culture.

[Krishna95]

Obviously this had to be untrue. In the last couple of years McLaren, has received massive investments (billions of dollars) , is in the process of setting up their new wind tunnel and is heavily committed to be in contention for a world title in the coming years. It's safe to say that the team is worth rooting for and seems quite prepared for the regulation change, from next year.

[peepo]

This is not true.

Laura Conrad, PR Manager at McLaren,: "McLaren Group is aware of a news media report stating it has been sold to Audi. This is wholly inaccurate and McLaren is seeking to have the story removed. McLaren’s technology strategy has always involved ongoing discussions and collaboration with relevant partners and suppliers, including other carmakers, however, there has been no change in the ownership structure of the McLaren Group."

https://www.motor1.com/news/547922/a...-group-report/

[GTO]

I don't think it is true, even if high-level negotiations would've been held. Audi & parent VW have time & again shown (since dieselgate happened) that they are not up for big ticket acquisitions. McLaren won't be cheap. Imagine, VW even handed over control of the iconic Bugatti brand to a relatively unknown startup called Rimac because they didn't want to invest in Bugatti.

VW has committed to spending big money on future tech (primarily electric cars but also other stuff like autonomous driving). I don't think the VW-Audi of 2021 will buy McLaren. Maybe a decade back when the group was super aggressive, but not now.

[Nucliomaniac]

Autocar made a mistake here, was later clarified. would be fun if it happens :-)

Another 2 teams on Track would be a lot of fun!

[Laidbackakki]

Yes, as confirmed by spokesperson for McLaren this news is inaccurate. As to why this news of Audi takeover is doing the rounds, my theory is, this has been started by someone in F1 because liberty media is portraying that it is improving F1 towards being more road car relevant and stirring up interests from large OEM is a good PR campaign. Harmless but a good PR indeed. I highly doubt both Audi and Porsche are interested in F1 together. But I feel finally the deal of Porsche working with Redbull racing from 2026 will happen. A long shot is a deal with Williams.

[SSO]

Originally Posted by Laidbackakki

Yes, as confirmed by spokesperson for McLaren this news is inaccurate. As to why this news of Audi takeover is doing the rounds, my theory is, this has been started by someone in F1 because liberty media is portraying that it is improving F1 towards being more road car relevant and stirring up interests from large OEM is a good PR campaign. Harmless but a good PR indeed. I highly doubt both Audi and Porsche are interested in F1 together. But I feel finally the deal of Porsche working with Redbull racing from 2026 will happen. A long shot is a deal with Williams.

McLaren has had talks with both Audi/VAG and BMW but no deal has been agreed. BMW did make an offer for McLaren several years ago that Mike Flewitt turned down. These conversations go on frequently and this one just happened to get leaked.