- Global workmark based on the McLaren family service station in Remuera.
- Will be used in conjunction with the familiar McLaren Speedmark logo.
- Huge investment includes confirmation of a McLaren SUV.
"Wordmarks" (basically text-only representations of a brand in place of a logo) are the latest trend in the automotive world. Supercar maker McLaren has unveiled a new one as part of an "evolved global brand identity" that comes straight from a 1950s service station in Upland Road, Remuera, Auckland.
The McLaren brand traces its roots (in a semi-complicated way, to be fair) back to the racing team founded by Kiwi Bruce McLaren in the UK in 1963. And Bruce McLaren's racing career can trace its roots back to a service station in Upland Road.
The garage was run by Bruce McLaren's father Les from 1936, and the family lived in a flat around the corner. The workshop was like a schoolroom for the young McLaren, as he learned the essentials of car mechanics and how to put a racing car together.
Bruce purchased the building with his father in 1959, when his racing career was starting to take off, and the family owned it until his untimely death in a testing accident at Goodwood, in the UK, in 1970.
The new wordmark brings "Automotive and Racing together under a unified identity," says the company. "The evolution connects McLaren’s Kiwi beginnings with the global brand it has become more than 60 years later."
The wordmark is shown on the McL 6GT, itself also a direct tribute to Bruce McLaren; although the car simply wore the model name on the back when it was revealed at Montery Car Week in August.
It will be used alongside the existing "Speedmark" logo, which is often claimed to be a Kiwi (Bruce McLaren had his own "Speedy Kiwi" graphic), but is also derived from a tobacco sponsorship logo; it's an evolution of the chevron that used to be part of Marlboro branding. Again, it's complicated.
The wordmark is introduced as a NZ$1bn-plus investment in McLaren Automotive begins, expanding its UK manufacturing, engineering and operations. The investment forms part of a larger commitment from McLaren Automotive majority shareholder L’IMAD, a sovereign investor of the Government of Abu Dhabi.
The investment is said to be in the interests of accelerating new model development, including recent confirmation that McLaren will build an SUV - something it has long said was not in the spirit of the brand. No technical details have been shared, but it's thought the new model will be launched by 2030.
