Although they've yet to even announce the second vehicle in their new vehicle lineup, McLaren is already talking about branching out beyond the automotive sector.
"We are a car company, but we're first and foremost a technology company," McLaren founder and CEO Ron Dennis told The Wall Street Journal.
McLaren is looking to expand into a $1.5 billion company (they did $548 million in 2011) in the next five years by "applying the technological savvy evident in decades of Formula One podium finishes to fields like pharmaceuticals and transport management."
Part of McLaren's expertise involves remote telemetry analysis and predictive software. GlaxoSmithKline is particularly interested in McLaren's Mission Control center, the futuristic hub where McLaren monitors all F1 races. GlaxoSmithKline is looking to set up a similar mission control center and feel that McLaren can help with data-modeling and high-speed process control.
McLaren's telemetry and predictive ability are also being used with the U.K.'s National Air Traffic Services and the California rail system.
But this isn't just about business. Dennis thinks that McLaren can offer custom tailored solutions for electronics, pneumatics, kinematics, fluid dynamics, material sciences and the use of their telemetry systems to monitior -- in real time -- hospital patients.
(WSJ)
rayzor says:
03:48 PM, 12/29/11
kudos to McLaren for thinking outside the box and utilizing their technology to advance other fields. Wish others will follow this trend...
mce63 says:
07:03 PM, 12/29/11
It is good business sense to maximize the revenue from their IP. But tread carefully when moving outside the familiar industries. Pharma is nothing like automotive. If not done right, it could be costly to both McLaren and GSK. More importantly, it could damage McLaren't reputation.
dbzimp says:
07:09 PM, 12/29/11
I believe that other technology companies are expanding research and development of technologies into fields other than transport vehicles.Mitsubishi's"Nano Tech" research has far reaching implications and applications in the curing of many debilitating diseases as well as advanced surgical techniques and technologies.
meest00gt says:
04:17 PM, 12/30/11
If any company is capable of making a move like the ones stated here, its McLaren.
bluejuke says:
06:54 PM, 12/30/11
thank goodness!!! When I saw the title I thought you were going to say they're announcing a new line of clothes or cologne or something
doss1 says:
10:44 AM, 12/31/11
I guess this is why CEO's are paid so much. Brilliance doesn't have a price tag just a winning bidder.
lolxd says:
02:24 AM, 01/ 2/12
Mclaren should buy Saab, stuff all their new technology in their 9-5, then 9-3 until the technology makes it into the small hatchbacks (if they make them).
lolxd says:
02:36 AM, 01/ 2/12
"rayzor says:
03:48 PM, 12/29/11
kudos to McLaren for thinking outside the box and utilizing their technology to advance other fields. Wish others will follow this trend..."
Ugh? Mitsubishi with TVs? Honda with the private jet?
jm1212 says:
09:00 PM, 01/ 2/12
maybe they should consider buying cars that people can actually afford.