The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is likely to delay McLaren’s future product launches, even though the carmaker’s latest two models from its Track 25 business plan are still set for a 2020 reveal. Anything beyond that however is currently up in the air.
Presented in 2018, McLaren’s Track 25 business plan involved 18 new models or derivatives being launched by 2025, the latest being the 765LT which debuted in March.
“One of the things that’s most intellectually challenging is working out the business plan, working out the plan for ’21 and beyond and trying to forecast how the markets are going to be, what the appetites of customers is going to be,” said McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt on Automotive News‘ “Daily Drive” podcast.
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“This will have interrupted our momentum,” he added. “This will have cost us probably two years. [In] 2020, we’re going to do very little. I think it’ll take us the whole of ’21 to climb back [to] where we are.”
Meanwhile, half of McLaren’s staff at its developmental office outside of Barcelona are back on the job thanks to Spain’s government officials allowing some employees to return to work.
“We’ve constrained a lot of programs and we’re focused on the programs that we’re going to deliver through the latter part of this year and into next year. So [for] things like the 765LT that we announced earlier this year, we have got a small team working on completing the development of this car.”
According to the McLaren boss, both the 765LT as well as the Elva roadster are on schedule for this year. The latter is a $1.82 million supercar with no windshield and a production run of 249 units.
“We have two cars to launch this year: 765LT and the Elva. And they’re both on plan to be launched, though [it’s] a bit more challenging than usual to get it done.”
