» British PM visits McLaren

McLaren played host to one of the highest-profile guests in its long history when British Prime Minister David Cameron opened the new McLaren Production Centre, which will be the home of the company’s ever-expanding car-making division.

Prime Minister Cameron was given an exclusive tour of the facility by McLaren CEO Ron Dennis and the team’s F1 drivers, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. He later opened the facility in front of a host of VIP guests and media, praising McLaren’s efforts at trying to rebuild the country’s flagging automotive industry with its production car facility.

“McLaren, in breaking new ground, are a powerful rebuke to those who say the manufacturing base has gone,” he said in his speech.

“There is something that doesn’t get said often enough which is that Formula 1 is an incredible British success story: every time Lewis or Jenson blast away from the starting grid they are doing so in cars built right here in Britain.”

Cameron’s praise was echoed by McLaren group chairman Ron Dennis.

“Everything McLaren is founding has been built on the founding principles of good design and solid, seamlessly efficient engineering and manufacturing,” he said.

“Now industry is realising that Britain’s grand manufacturing tradition is a solid platform upon which to build – and I want the McLaren Group to play its part in the crucial recalibration [of this].”

Dennis confirmed that over 2,000 of its MP4-12C hypercars were already on pre-order, and that McLaren’s automotive division would increase production of the cars to 4,000 units next year.